Voice of God
by Bryony
Summary: There is a new conflict arising, but this time the initiating force is none other than Duo Maxwell. Now the other pilots face the problem of how to stop him. Or perhaps the question is, *should* they?
1. Part One

Voice of God

by Bryony

Part One

Chang Wufei threw down his pen in frustration and leaned back in his swivel-chair with a dissatisfied grunt. Nineteen trainee reports had just come in and it was his job to evaluate each and every one of them for correctness, inclusion of supplementary information, accuracy, etc… On top of it all, he had to add his own commentary to each report and offer grades for each of the new recruits. Put bluntly, it simply wasn't his day.

_I am not some sort of school teacher!_ he grumbled to himself. _This isn't supposed to be my job!_

But, of course, as one graduates through the ranks, one gains more and more responsibilities to be taken care of while sitting at a desk. While such menial chores may not have been included in Wufei's job five years ago, they most certainly were now.

Overcome with a combination of boredom and disgust, Wufei swung away from his desk and flipped on the tiny black-and-white television crammed in the corner of his office atop some filing cabinets. The news was just coming on, a most welcome distraction.

But not for long, as soon Wufei was staring at the screen, mouth agape at the story rolling -- "New to headlines tonight is the unexpected committal of one of the greatest contributors to the new government of our times. Duo Maxwell, at only twenty-one, was admitted to the St. John's mental institution of colony cluster L-2 for observation this afternoon…" In the upper left hand corner of the screen a tiny clip was playing, showing Duo's familiar shape being half carried, half dragged towards the doors of the said institution, his braid half undone as though he had just been fighting.

_He probably was…_ Wufei realized, shaking his head in shock.

The door to his office opened just then, admitting his fiancée, Sally Po. "'Evening," she mumbled before Wufei cut her off.

"Have you seen this?!" he demanded, pointing towards the screen. The story was just finishing up.

"Is that Duo?" she asked, frowning at the image just before it disappeared. Wufei flipped off the television, too stunned to bother with the other headlines. He nodded in response to Sally's question.

"He's been committed," he mumbled, beginning to feel numb.

"Whatever for? That's ridiculous!"

"They didn't say… 'Details at eleven' was the last they said." He laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "Maxwell, in an asylum -- it's ludicrous; how can they possibly think that there's anything seriously wrong with him…? Sally?"

She was staring hard at the tiled floor, a thumbnail tugging restlessly at her lower lip. "Didn't he refer to himself as the God of Death during the war?" she asked quietly, not looking up as she anticipated Wufei's reaction.

"Don't tell me you're buying into this - this bullshit! I need hardly remind you of the problems others of us faced -- Commander Une, that Marquise man, Heero Yuy, myself…the list goes on. Do you mean to suggest that we all need institutionalization?"

"What? No -- no of course not! I'm simply pointing out -" She was interrupted as Noin burst in.

"Did you see -?" she began.

"Indeed. We saw," Wufei interrupted bitterly. "I don't suppose you have any more information than that anchorwoman did."

"Much though I may wish otherwise, no. Neither does Une. How could this have happened?" Noin shook her head, a mixture of incredulity and pity clear in her eyes. "Jesus…Poor Duo."

"Poor Duo?" Wufei repeated, his shock at the words seeping into his voice. "That cannot possibly be all you have to say on the situation, Noin. This is Duo Maxwell we're speaking of -- there is no way he is any less sane than the rest of us."

"I never said he wasn't!" Noin retorted defensively. "He's only been admitted for observation, the news said. Nothing more has been released about his mental state -- you saw the story, Wufei. I'm sure he'll be out in a few days."

Wufei snorted. "I certainly did see the story, and the clip just above it too. Duo was not being escorted into the building, he was being dragged -- such treatment wouldn't have occurred if there were no reason for it, the reason being that someone believes Duo to be crazy!" Wufei spun away from the conversation, his jaw clenched tightly shut in anger bordering on rage.

Six years -- six _years_ the war had been over, and _now_ someone had chosen to place one of them behind bars? And no, it could not even be a proper cell, with steel bars and harsh keepers, it was a prison disguised in kindness, where the degradation would be so much more hurtful to a man like Duo Maxwell.

"You're being ridiculous, Wufei."

And no, Sally would not understand, would she? This low blow dealt, no matter how swiftly Duo was released, could never be taken back; the harm it could cause would have already been done, and Sally would never understand. The anger drained out of him, and Wufei slumped backwards in his seat, almost prepared to tell his partner just that, but the words failed him, and he sat in silence.

One question haunted him above all others, and he spoke it aloud: "_Why_?"

"That does seem to be the big question," sighed Sally. "And Noin, you're sure Une doesn't know anything more than what the news has already blabbed?"

"Quite sure," the woman nodded. "I was in there with her when the program came on. She considered calling Miss Schbeiker, but the colonies are all in their night cycles right now, and the Commander doesn't consider this an urgent enough matter to call so late."

Wufei raised a brow. _She may not, but I certainly do_, he thought. Aloud he mused, "I wonder if Yuy knows about this."

"I shouldn't be surprised," Sally murmured wryly. "Wherever the hell that sneaky kid is, he probably knows more about it than any of us are likely to find out tonight." A thoughtful frown passed over her face, and she continued, "Which brings me back to my original point in coming here Wufei -- the two of us had dinner reservations for an hour ago."

Tactfully, Noin chose that point to leave, just in time to miss hearing the particularly colorful stream of oaths forcing their way past Wufei's lips. He wound up staring woefully at the stack of reports sitting on his desk and muttering, "Sally, I'm sorry."

"That's all right. I figured you'd say you couldn't go -- I was just stopping by to put your mind at ease, because I can't get away from the paperwork either." Sally rolled her head backwards with a sigh and a wry grin. "I swear, if I knew there was going to be this much paperwork I never would have joined the Preventers. I've really got to speak to Une about it and see if there's some way around it."

"Look, I've only got twelve more of these to go through; perhaps when I'm done we could get a late bite somewhere. What do you have left to do?"

"Oh, the usual routine crap. Give me two hours, if I'm not done by then it's going in the trash. See you in a few, Wufei." Whatever romantic gesture that might normally have accompanied the goodbye was overthrown by a combination of grouchiness, exhaustion, and Preventer policy against public displays of affection, and Sally walked out the door without so much as a kiss on the cheek.

Wufei watched her go, following the slim figure with his eyes until his office door swung firmly shut. Assured that he was alone, and would be for some time, Wufei shoved aside the remaining reports on his desk and picked up the telephone. Memory alone did not suffice to recall the latest telephone number Duo and that Schbeiker woman had shared, so he dialed up the international operator first and had her patch him through.

The telephone was answered quickly, assuring Wufei that he had interrupted no one's sleep. "Who is this?" the upset voice on the other end of the line demanded.

"Miss Hilde Schbeiker?" Wufei asked. "This is Chang Wufei of the Preventer organization."

"Wufei?" There was a thoughtful edge to Hilde's voice now. "You piloted a Gundam during the war, didn't you?"

"I did," he acknowledged curtly. "Miss Schbeiker -"

"Well I don't want to speak to you!" she snapped, and there was a resounding click as the phone was slammed down, and a moment of silence before the dial tone began to buzz steadily into his ear.

Wufei set the telephone down into its cradle slowly, swiftly going over the conversation. There was no doubt in his mind now that Duo's committal was a direct result of the fact that Duo had piloted during the war. An errant thought itched in the back of Wufei's mind, reminding him of Duo's easy smile after he killed a man, of the dark hysteria lurking in the young man's eyes, of the horrific nightmares Wufei himself had been witness to on more than one occasion.

But that was ridiculous -- they all faced the same post-war strains, or at least Wufei imagined they must, for he knew that at the very least he did. And the vision of Duo cracking under such pressure was…was unimaginable.

"I won't believe it," Wufei hissed.

He turned back to the paperwork viciously, positively outraged that he could be expected to work when such atrocities were being done to his friends. The pen in Wufei's hand was snapped in two, the plastic giving far too easily to provide any satisfaction. Red ink gushed out, dribbling over Wufei's hand and onto the neatly pressed pants of his uniform and the tiled floor of his office.

"Damn it all!" he cursed, flinging the bits of pen away from him and wiping the excess ink from himself with some tissues. A quick glance at the clock on the wall informed him that he had plenty of time to go home and change before coming back to pick up Sally for their 'quick bite.' In fact, there would be time to spare.

That decided him. Wufei shoved the unread reports into a drawer to deal with later and walked quickly out the door. He didn't bother to inform Sally that he was leaving -- it was better that she didn't know.

His car he left in the parking garage, and continued out to the bus stop two blocks down. Wufei's apartment was a mere fifteen minute ride away, and it took him only another ten minutes more to change his clothes. But then, rather than waiting for another bus to take him back to Preventer headquarters, Wufei turned in the opposite direction and began walking.

It was a muggy night in June. The colored city lights of Strasbourg glittered high above Wufei, neon advertisements shining so brightly as to block out the starlight high above. And as Wufei walked farther from his home and into the rattier part of the city, the sky grew dimmer and the earthbound lights brighter, enticements to the dirtier groups of people on the earth.

And now it was back to a more residential portion of the city, where fewer lights glowed, because fewer people could afford the electricity required to turn them on. All cities have slums, and here wasn't nearly so bad as elsewhere. Wufei rounded on an ancient apartment block, derelict and close to collapse in some spots. The city board was in the middle of discussing plans to put it under the wrecking ball.

Wufei dropped over the iron bar separating the ground level floor of the building from the basement levels, and walked over to the once ornate door. He stepped up close to it, close enough to smell its rot, and rapped lightly against it three times.

The young man who opened it for Wufei looked younger than he really was. He was short, and wiry despite his muscle, and had a boyish haircut, his dark bangs falling across his eyes. "Hello Heero," Wufei greeted him, stepping inside.

"Wufei," the other greeted coolly. "What brings you here?"

"I assume you saw the news earlier this evening."

"I don't watch television," Heero contradicted him, following Wufei into what may once have been a living room, where he seated himself on an upturned crate. "I don't even own one."

"Of course you don't," Wufei snapped grouchily, hardly in the mood for polite conversation. "Not living in this rat hole. You still get the news somehow though, so I'm sure you heard about Duo being taken to mental hospital for observation, right?"

Heero nodded sagely. "Of course I know," he agreed. "I was the one who had him put in."

"You _what_?!" Wufei yelled, turning on him. "What the hell for? What were you thinking, Yuy?" He did not even try to conceal the hurt outrage in his voice, to hide the indignation and horror he felt, to stop the accusations he felt boiling on his tongue. "Good God, Heero, during the war Duo Maxwell was the closest you came to calling anyone a friend -- how could you do something like this to him -- what gives you the right to do that to any one of us, huh? Are you listening?! Answer me!"

The calm on Heero's face made Wufei want to punch him; the blank expression only fueled his anger. He balled his hands into fists and stalked closer to the sitting figure. Then Heero glanced up at him, and Wufei stopped moving, staring at the other's stormy blue eyes. Within them was sitting all the loathing and hatred that Wufei had been directing at him, already received, already felt.

"The person you and I know as Duo Maxwell has lost his mind. I don't expect you to understand, Chang, not until you see him for yourself, but then you'll see exactly why I did it, and why you would have done the same yourself if you had been the one called upon. Duo _was_ the first person I was able to call a friend, and that is exactly why I made myself do what I did. I'm not going to justify myself any more to you."

"Explain it to me," Wufei demanded. "I'm not going _anywhere_ until you do."

Heero just shook his head.

Wufei's clenched fist was flying before he even recognized his desire to hit Heero, and then it was connecting with soft flesh, driving against the skin, bruising the blood vessels in Heero's cheek.

The young man retaliated, leaping easily from his makeshift chair to his feet to shove Wufei backwards. The scuffle lasted mere moments, and ended when a knife blade appeared from Heero's sleeve and was held firmly against the base of Wufei's throat, just beneath his Adam's apple.

"Leave," Heero told him coldly.

Silently, Wufei complied, and on his way back to the Preventers' headquarters, he bought a shuttle ticket to L-2. Heero would know, Wufei was sure, because nothing ever happened any longer that the other was _not_ aware of. Commander Une would have to know that he was taking a few days off of work, and he supposed he would have to tell Sally, but beyond that, Wufei wanted as much privacy as he could get. He would find out once and for all what was going on, and he had to do it alone or face the possibility of having his judgment clouded.

When Wufei stepped back into his office, there was a message waiting for him from Quatre, demanding if he knew what had happened to Duo. Wufei deleted it, and then stepped across the hall to fetch Sally.

She leaned back in her chair and stared up at him, her eyes happy and her lips smiling. Her tawny hair was pulled loosely back from her face in the two short twists Wufei had become so accustomed to seeing over the years, and they fell over her shoulders to frame her face. The look was so very characteristic of her, and she seemed so powerful and strong sitting there; eternal.

If Wufei had only known, he would have taken more time to memorize the picture she made like that.

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, everyone's got their own "war after the war" fic, and now I've got one too. Hopefully with a few original twists and ideas to call my own. Just to note, for your own benefit , this fic started out primarily concerned with Wufei, but has grown to focus on at least a few of the other characters as the plot has progressed as well. I do hope to keep Wufei the main character, but there may be times that the plot demands that I focus on someone else or that he fall into the background for a little while. Just letting you know now because I know some people have started reading this for the "Wufei and Duo as main characters" thing and got slightly disappointed when they faded for a bit.

Other things… Um, I have tried to include some semi-religious elements here, and I have tried to be accurate according to classes I've taken. I'd say that if you are a religious fanatic/dogmatic this probably is not the fic for you. Also, I'd appreciate it if you didn't read this chapter, see Duo's situation and dismiss this. The focus of this story is **not** that Duo has been institutionalized, it just sort of gets the ball rolling as it were, I guess. I believe that's all I wanted to say here -- I hope you enjoy reading it, and I would love to hear any feedback you have. And, just so you know, I am a writer who can stomach criticism, so fire away! __

Warnings: het, religious tampering, up to one character death__

Disclaimers: Neither the characters nor the television series _Gundam Wing_ are mine. This is a non-profit work of fiction. No suing. __


	2. Part Two

Part Two

Sally had wanted to see him off. Wufei had purposely left half an hour early to avoid her. The last thing he wanted right then was to be anywhere near another human being, at least, not another human being who hadn't been what he'd been through, someone who hadn't piloted a Gundam during the war.

Heero was the only other pilot on the Earth, and Wufei and Duo had been the only people to know where he was. Now Duo was, for all intents and purposes, imprisoned, and Trowa wandering somewhere with that ridiculous circus of his on L-3, and Quatre trying to manage his father's vast corporation. Wufei shook his head -- the entire situation was one giant ulcer.

The shuttle ride to L-2 was long, and boring. Wufei had brought a book, but didn't read a single word of it. He was too intent on other things to concentrate on anything else, though he kept trying to shove it all from his thoughts. Uselessly, of course.

Heero -- of all people, _Heero_ -- had found Duo crazy, and managed, God alone knew how, to put him in an asylum. He must have had Hilde's cooperation to do it. Under normal circumstances, only family members were able to sign committal papers, but as Duo had no living relatives, the burden would have gone to his long-term girlfriend. Dwelling on the how made no sense, Wufei knew -- he'd be certain to find out the details soon enough, but it was impossible not to speculate.

Finally, several hours later, the shuttle began docking. Wufei put his book away, and pulled out his duffel from the overhead compartment. There was the usual time-consuming security check, and then Wufei was free to roam the colony as he so chose. He checked into a hotel, and unpacked the two pairs of slacks and shirts he'd brought with him. Following lunch in the downstairs restaurant, Wufei went straight to business. He had never been one for wasting time to begin with, and on this trip he certainly had no time to waste -- when Une had asked how long he was going to be gone, he had replied that three days would probably be sufficient.

The St. John's clinic was not difficult to find, but it was a forty-five minute bus ride away from Wufei's hotel. It was another ride spent in silence, but this was a silence borne of fear rather than of thoughtfulness. With each passing block there grew in Wufei an icy lump, and a worry of what he would find at his destination. Outwardly he was, of course, composed, and sat very still in his chair watching the streets and buildings roll by, but in Wufei's mind were playing all the scenarios that up until that point he had managed to keep at bay.

When he arrived, the institution was not nearly so imposing as Wufei had built it up to be. There were but two stories to it, made out of red brick, and lots of windows. The surrounding grounds were cheery, with neatly trimmed evergreen hedges and carefully weeded flowerbeds along the path to the revolving doors of the main entrance.

Inside, a chalkboard displayed the visiting hours, and Wufei had arrived quite fortunately just at their beginning. "Good afternoon, sir," a perky voice intoned from his left, from behind the reception counter. "Can I help you with anything?"

"I'm here to see a patient," Wufei told the young woman who had called out to him. "Duo Maxwell."

There was a minute pause as the name was looked up on the computer, and then the smiling brunette handed him a pass. "If you can just put your name on this and clip it to your shirt I'll be glad to show you to Mr. Maxwell's room myself," she said. "Right this way."

Wufei penned in his name quickly, and quickly trotted after the nurse, who was already making her way down the whitewashed halls. She chatted gaily away as she walked beside him, pointing out all the different areas of the institution which they passed. Wufei ignored her for the most part, dismissing most of what the girl was saying as useless. As they neared Duo's room, however, he began paying attention, for her topic of conversation had become his friend.

"Mr. Maxwell is only in for observation, as you know, Mr. -" she glanced at his nametag "- Chang, is it? Well, basically, that means you're allowed to stay for the full three hour visitation period, so long as you understand that our hospital policy is not one of privacy -- we record all visits for safety and security reasons. Also for these reasons, we ask that you do not bring any substance -- be it food, drink, medicinal, or otherwise -- with you into any of our dormitory rooms, and under no circumstances may anything of this kind be given to any of our patients. You understand, of course, the reason for such precautions."

"Of course," Wufei murmured. "Now…could you tell me how long a standard observation period is these days?"

"To be on the safe side, we always have patients stay for a minimum of three weeks, Mr. Chang, in order to be certain of their mental condition. If we should determine a patient unstable within that period, we immediately move them to more permanent quarters."

"And…and what about Duo? Have you been able to draw any conclusions yet?"

The nurse's face darkened slightly. "We try not to make any assumptions during the first two or three days, Mr. Chang," was the evasive answer he received. "Besides," the young lady went on more cheerfully, "information like that is only to be given out by hospital staff to members of the patient's family or such individuals who signed them in. After that, it's _their_ decision who gets to know."

The conversation came to an abrupt end as the two drew up outside a closed door, numbered with a gilt 97. "Ah, here we are! Now, Mr. Chang, if you have any insecure items with you now, I must ask that you put them in the hospital's temporary safekeeping." Fortunately, Wufei's pockets were all empty, and he was allowed to go in without handing anything over.

The cheery nurse opened the door for him, tapping lightly on the chill metal. Wufei peeked over her shoulder, through the clear plastic window, but his narrow view was obscured by the nurse's head.

"You've got a visitor, Mr. Maxwell."

There was no response from within, and the nurse apparently hadn't expected one, for she turned on her heels and left. Wufei stepped inside hesitantly, allowing the heavy door to swing closed behind him. It shut with a slam, and Wufei almost jumped.

Duo was kneeling beside the foot of the bed, the familiar locks of braided hair trailing down his back and brushing the floor beside his ankles. His face was hidden by his forearms, so Wufei couldn't tell whether or not his eyes were open.

He cleared his throat to catch Duo's attention.

The room was practically barren. A low, narrow bed, a rickety chest of drawers, a closet, and a nightstand was the extent of the furnishings. No pictures adorned the whitewashed walls. A window was embedded into the far wall, and outside the reinforced glass Wufei could see some shrubs scraping up against it, scratching against the outside walls.

He coughed again, for Duo still hadn't moved. He made a move toward the bed, and finally said the other's name. "Duo."

The standard-issue wool blanket was scratchy under the palms of Wufei's hands, and the sheets underneath rustled when he sat down. "Duo," he said again.

A few more minutes passed without response, and loath to touch the other young man, Wufei sighed in exasperation, almost prepared to give up and leave. But then Duo stirred, and lifted up his head to look at him. There was a faint glimmer of astonishment in his eyes.

"Wufei!" he cried, rocking back on the balls of his feet in undisguised surprise. "When the hell did you get here?"

Frowning his confusion, Wufei was slow to answer, and when he did the tone was pointed. "Only about five minutes ago," he answered. "I tried to speak to you, but you didn't answer me."

"I guess I fell asleep," Duo confessed sheepishly, starting to grin a little. "Sorry about that. But what are you doing here? I haven't seen you in three years practically!"

Wufei cleared his throat again. Now that it had come to the point, he would much rather return to more mundane topics than bite the bullet. His fingers clenched tightly in the roughly-spun wool of Duo's blanket. "I spoke to Heero," he began, and watched as Duo's face began to darken, the light that had been in his eyes upon waking gone dead.

"The little fuck," the other muttered, and then more loudly, "You think I'm nuts then." He stood, spinning away to walk to the window and stare moodily out.

"Did I say that?" Wufei snapped to Duo's back.

"Well why the hell not?!" The shout echoed off of the thick walls, reverberating in the tiny room before fading slowly away. "Everyone else I've talked to does -- Hilde does, the fucking doctors do, Christ Wufei, even _I'm_ starting to think I might be!" There was a strangled hiss of breath, and Wufei watched Duo's white-knuckled grip on the windowsill with interest. He stayed silent while Duo regained control of himself, ignoring the tiny splash of water against the tiled floor.

He waited until the rise and fall of Duo's shoulders had slowed, and then he demanded, "Why?"

"Didn't Heero tell you?" Duo asked bitterly, turning around again to slide his back down the wall until he was squatting on the floor. Wufei shook his head. "I'm a threat to myself and to humanity. I suffer from hallucinations, see things I shouldn't. I'm a dangerous, dangerous man, Wufei." He began to snicker then, the laughter low and grating, eerily similar to what Wufei remembered hearing over his comm unit during the war. "Well, we all are, us Gundam pilots, but I'm the crazy one. I'm the one who believes in things that aren't there. I heard the doctor talking to Hilde yesterday when she signed the papers to have me put in here. He gave a tentative diagnosis of schizophrenia. Classic case, he said." Duo's chuckles grew louder in volume and intensity, and he threw back his head and practically howled. He could barely get his words out around the laughter, and Wufei watched in a sick, horrified fascination. "Well he's an idiot. The entire fucking world, Wufei -- idiots."

Wufei felt he had to protest, and said, "The nurse I spoke to told me that the hospital waits before offering diagnosis."

The laughter stopped. "Who'd you talk to?" Duo asked, his voice not straying beyond casual tones.

"I don't know her name," Wufei admitted. "She was short, had brown hair and eyes. Perky."

"Sounds like Rosemary. I don't think she's been here more than a couple of months. She doesn't know the ropes, just the protocol."

"_You_ haven't even been here forty-eight hours," Wufei pointed out skeptically. "I suppose that makes you an expert?"

Duo was across the room in mere seconds. "Back off Wufei," he snarled. "You don't know what you're on about. Six hours, twelve, twenty-four, thirty-six, forty-eight, I don't give a crap how many hours it's been, it's been the most hellish time of my life, all right?"

"Why do they think you're crazy?" Wufei persisted. "I don't understand -- tell me why."

"I've already told you," Duo growled. "I don't want to talk to you anymore. Back off, Wufei."

"Damn it, Maxwell, why do you always have to be so stubborn, huh?" Patience worn thin, Wufei didn't wait for a reply before storming out of the room. A nurse's station was located not far away, and when Wufei was seen emerging, a chorus of voices offered to show him the way back out. He brushed them all off, and went back down the halls alone.

Back outside, he began regretting the decision, and Wufei wished he could go back inside to apologize and try to begin again, but wounded pride and his own stubbornness prevented that right then. And so Wufei wandered back to the bus stop, ready to return to his hotel for a few hours, and to perhaps call Sally and speak to her once more about the problem.

However, due to fortunate (or not) coincidence, none of that occurred. Wufei got on the first bus that arrived, but realized too late that it was one traveling in the direction opposite that of his destination. Grumbling at his bad luck, Wufei slouched low in his seat and glowered at the window, watching the sights whiz by, when a familiar location caught his eyes.

He only saw the glint of metal in the sunlight momentarily before the bus had passed it by, but within moments Wufei had stood up and yanked down hard on the brake cord. The vehicle slowed obligingly, pulling over for him to disembark.

There it was, a short, squat house that somehow managed to be nestled within the half commercial, half industrial section of the colony town. And behind the building rose up a tiny heap of what could easily be mistaken for a rubbish dump, but what was in reality a scrapyard. Wufei had never been able to comprehend Duo and Hilde's ability to live in such an area, and had never really believed either of them when they protested that they were perfectly comfortable, and seeing their home for the first time in something other than a photograph did nothing to persuade him. Nor had Wufei planned on paying Hilde any visits on his trip -- and certainly didn't expect a particularly warm welcome after his brief conversation with her the night before -- but it seemed now that it might be his only chance of discovering what was really going on.

He jogged over to the house, taking due note of the sag in the porch, and rang the bell. It was a full ten minutes before anyone answered, but Wufei didn't plan on going anywhere now that he'd arrived. He didn't give up, but rather rang again.

Eventually the door was thrown open, revealing an exhausted looking young lady wrapped up in a bathrobe. She was tiny -- just coming up to Wufei's shoulder -- and her brilliant blue eyes would have looked stunning against her short-cropped black hair if they hadn't lacked the vibrant spark they had once held. Hilde gazed dully up at him, without recognition in her stare, until Wufei spoke, holding out a hand in greeting.

"We spoke on the telephone yesterday," he said, "I'm Chang Wufei."

The dull eyes flared then, but with anger, and the door began to close. Wufei did the only thing he could think to do, and flung himself forward, sticking his foot between the door and the jamb. He wedged the rest of himself in as well, halting the door's path and shoving his way into the house.

"What the _hell_ do you want?" Hilde screamed, catching up a large ornament in her hand and poised, ready to throw. "Get out of here! I told you yesterday I don't want to talk to you!"

"Miss Schbeiker, _please_," Wufei growled back, trying to bite back his irritation. "I just want to find out what's going on with Duo! I know you and Heero had him committed to an asylum, and I just want to know why."

"_Why_?" Hilde repeated hysterically. "The love of my life has gone crazy and you're asking _me_ why?!" Her shoulders heaved as she hiccupped over a sob and tried to hide it. "Goddamn it, I didn't _want_ to do it, you know! I tried to…to pretend he was okay…but…but…" She trailed off helplessly, words failing her. With her rage spent, Hilde sagged again, the hand holding the ornament dropping limply to her side. She looked frail, drooping in on herself like that, with tears threatening at the corners of her eyes.

Wufei pulled the figurine loose and set it on its table by the door before taking Hilde by the arm and steering her towards what he hoped would be the living room. His hopes proved correct, and he helped the young woman over to a seat on the ratty couch in the center of the room. He sat beside her, a comfortable distance away, and even dared go so far as to rub his hand in comforting circles along her back as he waited patiently for the tears to subside, which they did in a few minutes time.

His years with Sally had mellowed Wufei considerably, to the point that now he barely gave a second thought to his actions in offering Hilde solace. Six years ago, as that discomfited teenager Wufei would never have even known where to begin -- or cared enough to try. And now, while he was perfectly at ease with admitting to himself that he had an ulterior motive in calming Hilde down enough to talk to her, he also held a fair amount of compassion for her as well. The realization surprised him a little, and he drew back momentarily to incorporate it into his system.

Hilde drew a shaky breath, and running a hand through her chunky bangs demanded, "Why are you here?"

"I already told you that," Wufei replied, stifling an impatient sigh. "I want to know why you had Duo shut up in a mental institution. What's happened?"

A shrill burst of laughter dropped from Hilde's lips. "Like you don't already know!"

Clenching his teeth, Wufei grated, "Humor me."

Hilde turned to stare at him then, minutely examining each detail of his stance, thinking. Silence continued to perpetuate the room for some moments more, until Wufei shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Finally Hilde said, "It started with the dreams." Wufei glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, and she drew her legs up to her chest before continuing.

"He had nightmares about the war -- Duo did. I could never understand why, after six years of peace, it suddenly started coming back to him. I just…I couldn't understand, is all. But I tried to help him anyway. I would hold him, and I'd try to talk to him, but half the time he would just get up out of bed and leave, like he hadn't even noticed I was there."

She stopped, and Wufei thought to himself, _That can't possibly be all._

It wasn't. Hilde had only paused to collect herself again. "I always knew Duo was on the edge, ever since I first met him. Who else could act so flip about everything that happened? How else could you explain it? I didn't bother trying to, I never have. I can live with a lot -- I can live with nightmares -- anyone can live with nightmares, they don't mean you've gone nuts. But then he started telling me that this world wasn't what he'd fought for, that everything had gone wrong and it was up to him again to correct it. It sounded like he wanted to start another war -- after…after we all lost so much in the last one, especially Duo, how could he _say_ things like that?! It didn't make any sense! He was shutting me out again, more and more. I knew there had to be something wrong at that point, but I had no idea what it could be. All I wanted to do was help him, but he wouldn't let me. I…he just wouldn't.

"I didn't know what to do. I mean…I mean it's _Duo_! He just has a way of bouncing back. I guess I thought that maybe if I gave him his space everything would get better, that if I ignored everything for long enough it would all go away, and I'd have Duo back." She shook her head. "Obviously I was wrong. I should have known, I guess. I just wanted things the way they used to be -- I still do. I want things to be okay."

"So what happened?" Wufei prompted in a murmur, so softly that he could barely even hear himself.

"A few days ago I walked in on him, and he was talking to someone -- but there was _no one there_. And I knew, then, finally, that everything had spun out of my control, out of Duo's control -- that everything had gone topsy-turvy. I -" Hilde flushed red "- I screamed at him, I was scared out of my mind. I hit him. And he just sort of stood there. He didn't try to explain or defend himself, or anything." Sighing, "I just had no idea what to do. And, well I found the number Duo used to call Heero -- it was buried under some junk in the desk -- and I called him myself. Heero was who Duo always used to talk about whenever I could get him to actually open up about the war. I thought maybe he could help. He came out here…and he told me that I ought to take Duo in to have a psychological examination. I - I didn't know what else to do, so I did. They recommended a temporary committal for closer observations. So I've done that too. The doctor I spoke to -- Peter Cummings his name was -- he said it might be schizophrenia."

With another tiny sigh, Hilde leaned back against the couch cushions and shut her eyes. "He said that there was no way to be sure what brought it on, but I blame the war. I blame the soldiers who perpetuated the war. I blame all you other Gundam pilots. And nothing can make me believe otherwise."

The stubborn bitterness laced into Hilde's voice gave Wufei a jolt as he realized, perhaps for the first time, the extent of Hilde's love for Duo. He sighed in resignation and stood to leave.

The silly girl honestly thought she had done the right thing by putting Duo in the hospital -- even Heero seemed to have been pulled into the mistake. Either that, or there was some hidden motivation behind the young man's action. Wufei knew better. Duo was no madman, no more than he himself was. Though perhaps, he amended to himself, perhaps that wasn't saying much.

He could feel Hilde's eyes on him as he left the house, and he ignored them, his focus being elsewhere, turning over various notions of what to do.

=====

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[Author's Notes: Thanks to Flaming Venom and to Tori Sakana for your reviews last chapter! It's nice to know that even some of my odder fics won't be completely overlooked by readers, lol. Thanks for the encouragement. ^_^ Hopefully the rest won't prove a disappointment, eh?_]_


	3. Part Three

Part Three

What Wufei ended up doing was going back to the hotel and taking a nap. It never failed -- the six hour time difference between the colonies and the Preventer headquarters in Strasbourg always managed to dash Wufei's internal clock to pieces. Several hours later, as the colony lights were beginning to dim and Wufei woke up, he considered giving Sally a call. He would have liked to talk to her, even if only for a few minutes, but in the end he decided against it. The conversation would inevitably turn to the areas he wanted to steer clear of, and that was the last thing Wufei wanted to deal with on his trip.

He ordered a meal from room service instead, and flipped through the channels on the television while he ate, catching bits and pieces of newsreels. The stir that the story about Duo had caused among Wufei and his companions hadn't seemed to have caught on with anyone else, for no one seemed to be doing any follow-ups to it. And that was really just as well, he decided firmly. Publicity was the last thing any one of them needed, as Heero was proof enough, having secluded himself from everyone in that hovel he called a home.

Wufei shook his head -- thinking about the other former pilot only served to darken his mood still further. He had been on the colony for almost twelve hours, spoken to both Duo and Hilde, and had still come to no conclusions. The fact was, he had no idea what to do.

But the next day, in a startling burst of clarity, Wufei finally figured it out.

He returned to the St. John's institution early the next morning, and found Duo in the same position he had been during Wufei's previous visit, kneeling beside the foot of the bed. It suddenly came to Wufei that the pose looked rather similar to those taken by subjects of ancient religious paintings. It looked as though Duo was praying.

Wufei paused a moment to reflect on that, taking in his friend's stance more thoughtfully before setting the idea aside and going to sit down. He took Duo's shoulder and shook the young man awake, releasing him only when the other began to grumble, and blinked up at him groggily.

"Good morning," Wufei greeted him, cracking a half smile at the scowl on Duo's face.

"Back so soon?" he sneered.

The smile dropped away from Wufei's face, and he bent over to stare at the backs of his hands, which were now clasped tightly around his knees. All seriousness now, he began, "Duo, I apologize for the way I acted yesterday. It was cruel of me to walk away from you like that."

Duo softened at the apology, and visibly cheered. The hand he stuck under Wufei's face came as a slight surprise, but Wufei took it anyway, and they gingerly shook. "Don't worry about it. I was acting pretty bratty myself come to think of it," Duo chortled as he eased himself up onto the bed beside Wufei. "So what brings you around here today?"

"I'm still having trouble understanding," Wufei admitted. "After I left here yesterday I went and spoke to Hilde about why you were in here, and _finally_ managed a straight answer out of somebody." He shifted a little to see Duo's face better, and looked him up and down. The mention of Hilde's name had brought a cloudiness into Duo's eyes, which Wufei regretted causing, but other than that he could see nothing that would indicate anything out of the ordinary. He shook his head, sighing. "Heero told me I would only need speak to you to see why you had to be in here, but I have spoken to you quite a bit now, and I have yet to see what everyone else seems to be seeing."

It was Duo, then, who turned his eyes to Wufei's face, and looked _him_ over. He looked bleak, miserable, and when he spoke the words barely registered any louder than a whisper. "That's because I haven't told you yet," Duo muttered, and turned his eyes back to the floor to cover up the nervousness and shame Wufei had already glimpsed in his eyes.

"Told me what?" Wufei prompted when the silence had gotten to be too much for him.

"Someone's been talking to me, Wufei, someone who no one else hears. _They_ think it's schizophrenia, insanity, whatever. I think it's God."

Wufei was dimly aware that his mouth had dropped open, and he attempted to shut it again. This was indeed rather difficult to wrap his mind around. "I, ah…" He stopped, cleared his throat, began again. "I thought you didn't believe in God," he said.

"What's there to believe in on a colony?" Duo retorted. "No, I didn't believe in God, not until I went to the Earth. It got pretty hard not to then, especially after the war was over. It makes no sense for Death to be in charge of all that life, and there's so much more that's alive in the world than there is that's not. It's just us humans that end up warping all that. We're a pretty pathetic race, Wufei, but there's a lot more out there than just us -- on the Earth you can see that, and I began to."

Wufei frowned and went back to studying his hands. The explanation made more sense than he wanted to admit, more than the religious teachings he had grown up with as a child. "Why does…um…God speak to you?" he wondered, and Duo shrugged in reply, as he got up and began pacing again.

"I don't know. Maybe because I'm actually willing to listen."

Wufei's throat had gone dry, so he swallowed to relubricate his vocal cords. Everything was spinning, so Wufei tilted his head backwards toward the ceiling and shut his eyes. "And what does -" he? she? it? "- God…" He cleared his throat again. "…say?"

He could hear Duo's boots clunking against the floor as he answered. "Everything that I should have already known." There was a pause in Duo's speech, and his footsteps stopped too. Wufei felt the warm, dry pressure of Duo's hands pressing against his. He opened his eyes, and tilted his head back down so that he could look into his friend's face, a little surprised by the closeness between them. "You don't believe me, do you?" Duo asked, but the intonation wasn't so much that of a question as of a statement.

And was that disappointment there? Hidden amidst the knowing tones?

Mirroring their conversation yesterday, Wufei snapped irritably, "Did I _say_ that?"

Surely he didn't though. This was what Heero had been telling him about, and from Hilde's words Wufei could guess what exactly Duo had been…told. '_But then he started telling me that this world wasn't what he'd fought for, that everything had gone wrong and it was up to him again to correct it. It sounded like he wanted to start another war…_' No wonder they had wanted him shut up in here. No wonder they had thought Duo had gone nuts.

"You didn't say it, but you look it," Duo answered him.

"I don't want to believe you," Wufei confessed. "I want to believe that every word coming out of your mouth is a part of some psychotic fantasy of yours, caused by whatever disease these doctors think you have. I want to believe that you deserve to be in here, because that would mean that everything else in the world was right. It'd mean that the war accomplished what we hoped it would. But I know you too well, and, unfortunately, these days I try not to delude myself too much. I know you're sane, Duo…I believe you. I can't help it."

And then, to Wufei's surprise, Duo began laughing again, very quietly and only for a few seconds, for when he saw Wufei's confused expression he stopped to explain.

"You know," he said, "of all of us, you're the last person I would've expected to hear that from." He began snickering to himself again, and that time Wufei joined him.

But then it hit him.

Now that he had admitted to the both of them where his loyalties lay, Wufei could not just leave his friend to rot here, for that was almost certainly what would happen. The doctors would observe and they would wrongly diagnose and commit, more permanently and under closer observation than Duo's present situation. And Wufei could think of no way that he could legally stop them either…

"Duo," he whispered, "we're going to have to leave quick."

Sudden understanding was born in the other's eyes, and the hollowness that had been clouding his voice since Wufei had first spoken to him left in that same moment. "You sure you mean that?" Duo asked, raising an eyebrow slightly, betraying his lingering skepticism.

Wufei had already moved on, however, and was peering into the corners of the room for the cameras he knew would be there, recording his visit. Disabling them was probably useless though, and might only serve to alert the hospital of their intentions sooner than need be. The window, while close to the ground, was not going to allow any passage outside, Wufei not having come prepared with anything strong or heavy enough to break through both the reinforced glass and the chicken-wire embedded inside it.

Perhaps they could just walk out -- Nurse what's-her-name had said nothing about not going to other sections of the institution, nor anything about Duo not being allowed outside his room. At any rate, while it seemed foolhardy, it was also their best bet, and Wufei strode over to the door.

"Hey Wufei, you didn't answer me," Duo interrupted. "I asked if you were sure about this. Helping an insane guy bust out of his cell's probably pretty damn illegal, you know. After we get outside this door, we can't exactly come back in again later saying, 'Hey, sorry, made a mistake, we're staying after all.'"

_I'll probably lose my job for this_, Wufei realized, and almost more importantly than that, he could lose Sally. Was this really worth that?

"Just come on," he said gruffly, and walked out.

There was that nurse's station at the end of the hall. How was Wufei supposed to get past _that_?

"Are you even allowed out of your room?" Wufei demanded in a whisper, still hovering in the doorway.

Duo merely shrugged, muttering, "I never really bothered to find out."

"Fuck," Wufei hissed, "I _hate_ doing this without a plan."

"Yeah, well I hate to break it to you, pal, but it's a little late to be thinking of one _now_."

"Okay. Okay, fine. You're right. There's no way we're going to do this without being noticed, let's just go," Wufei sneered, rolling his eyes -- until Duo shoved past him and out the door, that is.

"My kind of thinking," he snickered, before taking off at a run down the hall. Without time for surprise or hesitation, Wufei sprinted after him, taking due note of the rising cry at the nurse's station and dismissing it.

The shrilling in the air was certainly an alarm filtering over the loudspeakers, alerting the hospital to their -- or was it merely Duo's? -- escape. Rising above it was the calm male voice, informing whatever the institution had in the way of security to their location.

Wufei was therefore half expecting it when he and Duo encountered a burly man stepping towards them, an insidious smile on his face. Duo slowed; there was no room to dodge around him.

"Hey now," the man said soothingly, "where are you two kids heading, huh?" Wufei didn't wait long enough to allow him to get to the part where he tried to convince them to turn around and go back, and shoved his way past Duo and threw a punch, feeling a faint satisfaction at the rough connection with the sagging flesh of the man's cheek.

"What the hell are you waiting for?" he snapped at Duo, who quickly darted past and away from them. He would have followed but for the hammy fist which suddenly clamped heavily down on his shoulder. There was just enough time before Wufei was spun forcefully around for him to see Duo disappear around a corner. Then he was face-to-face again with the heavyset man, whose jaw was already pinkish and a bit puffy looking.

"Now come on, kid," he muttered, and this time there was annoyance tingeing his voice alongside the ingratiating tone Wufei supposed was meant to trick him into backing down peacefully.

And that certainly wasn't happening.

There was a crunch of bone as this time Wufei's well-aimed fist went into the attendant's nose. He staggered backwards, groaning and reaching up a hand to clutch his face, which in turn allowed Wufei easy passage around and away from him.

He went in the direction he'd last seen Duo, rounding the same corner, and running as quickly as he could on the waxed tiles. There was no sign of his friend, so Wufei continued forward, ducking out of sight whenever an orderly came near. Fortunately, his instincts from the war were still well-honed, and his work with the Preventers had kept him in good shape. The people and security here were mediocre at best -- disorganized, and certainly no match for him. He hoped the same was proving true for Duo.

There shouldn't have been time to stop and look for him, but by the same token, helping Duo had become the main purpose for Wufei's being there and he couldn't just give up on him.

There was going to be hell to pay for this…

By some strange twist of fate, the maze of halls Wufei had been picking his way through eventually led him back to the lobby. It was swarming with people, and the two sets of double doors had apparently been blocked off. Escape through that venue was unlikely, Wufei could see at once, but he didn't know of any other exits in the building. Hell, he didn't even know anything about the building -- it was pure chance that had brought him back here after the rush and adrenaline that had come after Duo fled. He was not about to abandon it and face being lost.

_Perhaps…_

There was way too much commotion going on in there. Wufei crept silently in and eased himself into the midst of a group of people. "What on earth is going on?" he demanded of a middle-aged man beside him, dressed in the distinctive white smock that identified him as one of the doctors of the institution.

He lifted a hand to rub the back of his balding head a minute before answering, frowning at Wufei severely in the quick glance he spared him. "One of the patients is trying for a getaway," he grumbled, rubbing at his thin wisps of hair again. "Cummings is up there reasoning with the kid now. I wouldn't worry, young man; we'll have this under control in a few minutes now. Why don't you go back to your visit, hum?" The man's eyes drifted forward again, and Wufei followed their direction, noting the thin brown line of Duo's braid whipping in the air wildly. To himself, the doctor beside him continued, "Of course, we'll have to move that young man to a more secure room…"

…And this would not do at all.

Two more orderlies were approaching Duo from either side.

Wufei began shoving his way forward, fumbling in his pocket for his wallet. "Prevention Organization!" he yelled suddenly, "Everybody freeze!" They all did, too, spinning to face him with odd looks on their faces. Wufei's Preventer ID was in his wallet alongside his credit cards, and he pulled it out. For a moment everyone was silent, and then a youngish man, perhaps in his mid-thirties started forward, tight-lipped with outrage.

"What -- what is the meaning of this?" he sputtered angrily, shaking a fist towards Wufei's face. "If I may ask, that is! We are _trying_ to suppress a patient here! What exactly do you think you're doing?!"

What _was_ he doing? Wufei had no idea any longer. "Unlock the doors," he ordered.

"I beg your pardon?" the doctor -- Wufei assumed he was Cummings -- huffed. "I most certainly will not! Not until this patient here is safely back where he belongs!" He turned back to the two orderlies and they began easing towards Duo again. Wufei suddenly noticed that one of them was carrying a tranquilizer gun. He'd thought those had gone out the window years ago.

"Damn it," he hissed, when suddenly Duo sprang forward and grabbed the doctor around the neck. Cummings's eyes were practically bugging out of his head, and Wufei might have laughed at the picture if the situation weren't so serious, and getting more so with each passing second. There was nothing to do now, but -- "Open the doors!" he roared again, his voice echoing in the spacious, silent room, and this time someone scurried to do his bidding, some poor frightened looking girl.

A quiet sob escaped her throat, which she quickly muffled with the back of her hand. No one made a single move to either help or hinder her, but Cummings made a sort of strangled gurgle from Duo's grasp, now behind Wufei as they made their way to the doors.

They were at the doors.

They were just outside the doors.

Something sharp suddenly embedded itself in Wufei's thigh, and he quickly yanked out the tiny needle, almost stumbling as the narcotic effects of the sedative kicked in. There was the high-pitched whine of sirens in the distance. "We've got to run," Wufei mumbled, trying to dismiss the wooziness in his stomach.

There was dull, sickening crack, and then Cummings's body dropped to the ground, his head facing at a hideous angle, his eyes glazing over and staring out into nothingness. And Wufei and Duo ran, and ran, and ran.

=====

Uh…I suddenly realized a couple of months too late that I'd forgotten to post the other chapters I'd written of this thing. Sorry. ::sweatdrop:: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far -- Tori Sakana, sadineye, KaT, marle, and the person who didn't leave a name (^_^) -- I hope this chapter didn't disappoint… Chapter 4 ought to be up by the time you all finish reading this. So thanks!


	4. Part Four

Part Four

Wufei realized that he was awake before he opened his eyes. He was groggy, and had he been dreaming? He couldn't quite recall. His stomach tossed and turned on itself; he felt faintly nauseas.

He was lying on something hard and rough, the texture rubbing harshly against his cheek. And there was something ringing… Wufei listened to it for a while before realizing it was his cellular phone. Then he opened his eyes finally, and sat up. He ignored the telephone for the moment in order to take in his surroundings -- it seemed to be a warehouse of some sort, the floor unevenly hewn of concrete.

He reached into his pants' pocket, fishing for his phone. His fingers found the tiny hunk of plastic and he absently turned it off. This was what it had come to, then -- he and Duo were hiding out in an ancient abandoned warehouse. That must be it.

With his legs unsteady and almost unwilling to support him at all, Wufei eased his way upright. Duo was nowhere to be seen, and for one brief, paralyzing moment, he was afraid that the other might have abandoned him or run off alone to cope with the situation. But that wasn't Duo's way -- no, he would be there somewhere. Wufei just had to find him.

And when he did find him, he would give him the lecture of a lifetime, too.

_What the hell was that idiot thinking?_ Wufei wondered. There had been absolutely no need to kill that doctor, and doing so had made their situation at least a hundred times worse than it already had been. _No discipline…no common sense…what did I even waste my time rescuing him for anyway?!_

That was going overboard and Wufei knew it, but it was something to think about while looking for his absent companion anyway. He found him eventually, sprawled out next to the wall, an arm thrown haphazardly across his face to block out the faint rays of light filtering into the building. Wufei wondered if he should let him sleep. He wondered how long it had been since they had made their escape. He wondered if they should move on to a different location. He was wondering about a lot of things that hadn't touched his mind since the last wars.

Things were beginning to come back to him now, but the memories were still a little fuzzy. Mostly it was just a lot of desperately trying to stay upright while he and Duo were getting away. When he hadn't been able to get any farther, they had just pulled over in the warehouse, and after that it was just black.

Wufei left Duo for the time being, and made his way over to the exit and discreetly out onto the street. There was a vending machine full of newspapers just on the corner; Wufei fished out a bunch of change and slid it into the slot to purchase one. There, right across the top of the front page, was the headline he had been most afraid he was going to see: _Former Gundam Pilot Escapes L-2 Institution_.

"Fuck it," Wufei muttered, feeling utterly defeated. He took the paper and headed back into the protective cover and darkness the warehouse provided, leaving behind the artificial colony sunlight. The article read much the way he had expected it to, full of mixed feelings of confusion, fear, and excitement. Lady Une had made a statement for the press about his behavior, but Wufei noted that it was deliberately vague. He was relieved to see no mention whatsoever of either Sally or Hilde. The other pilots -- the ones whose whereabouts were known, that is -- had been "unavailable to comment," which Wufei knew was a load of rubbish, but he was grateful for it nonetheless. Somewhere, somehow, in this big mess, he was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

After the wars had finally given way to peace, a big ruckus had been made by the public to know the identities of the five mysterious pilots who some thought of as "saviors" and others as simply terrorists. The information had eventually leaked along with the names of all other soldiers in the war, but by that point everyone save Quatre and Wufei himself had been so safely steeped in anonymity that it was soon passed over in favor of other, greater news.

The acceptance that had greeted the two ex-pilots in the public eye had surprised Wufei for months -- but it seemed that people truly were finally ready for peace. Quatre had set up press conferences and dealt with the matter with all the brilliance and charisma that he possessed, and amazingly it had worked. Wufei wondered if it would continue to, now that this issue had sprouted up.

"What're you reading?" Duo's voice floated towards him, still thick with sleep and exhaustion. Wufei raised the paper and pointed out the article.

"Was it really necessary to have killed that man?" he asked pointedly, folding up the newspaper and placing aside. "It's going to play against us in public opinion, _and_ it gives colony officials reason to press charges -- on top of the infamy that we'd already have had to deal with from this escape."

"Don't lecture me, Wufei," Duo snapped back irritably. "I just did what I had to do -- you weren't involved in that guy's death. If you're really so concerned I'll drop a letter to the press about it." The snide tone in Duo's voice did nothing for Wufei's already choppy temper, and he had to work hard to suppress the urge to get involved in yet another fight.

"I won't lecture if you won't be an ass, _Maxwell_," he grated, unable to resist the temptation to return nastiness in kind.

Duo slumped to the floor beside him. "This is a load of crap," he muttered. "Look, Wufei, I'm _sorry_ I killed Cummings, okay? Is that what you want to hear? Fine. You've heard it. And thank you for your help yesterday; it goes without saying I couldn't have done it without you, but if you're starting to have some doubts about helping me out here, maybe you'd better go turn yourself in now, because I can tell you straight off that this ordeal isn't over yet."

Wufei felt cold all of a sudden, like all of his blood had suddenly frozen in his veins. "What exactly are you suggesting?" he asked quietly, and even he didn't like the way his voice sounded.

"Either stick around and help me out until things have ended for real, or get out now and run away back to your home on the Earth."

"That's not what I meant and you know it. Explain yourself -- what you mean by 'helping you' and that this 'isn't over'."

"Don't tell me _you_ think it is," Duo laughed. Wufei merely stared him down, his eyes issuing the same order his voice had moments before: _Explain_. "They're gonna be looking for me -- for you too -- they probably are right now. Like it or not, we're fugitives again, Wufei. But now that I know what they're going to be out to do, they're not going to catch me. Now that I'm free again, I can do what I'm supposed to do."

"Hilde said you wanted another war…"

Wufei's breath quickened slightly, for what reason he couldn't tell for certain.

"Well maybe I do."

"Shut up," Wufei snapped. "You do not!"

No, there could be no wars any longer -- he was a Preventer, it was his sacred duty to protect the peace. Chang Wufei could not live through another war. Duo couldn't honestly want another one -- couldn't honestly think a third would accomplish anything more.

"You admitted it yourself, for crying out loud!" Duo exclaimed. "The Eve Wars did absolute crap for the colonies. We Gundam pilots set out to liberate ourselves and our homes -"

"They _are_ liberated!" Wufei screamed. "Shut up! _Shut up_! You don't know what you're talking about, Maxwell, so just…shut up." And to Wufei's surprise, Duo did just that, sullenly easing himself up from the floor and pacing away, farther back into the dimness of the warehouse.

Hot tears were stinging in Wufei's eyes, but he couldn't let them fall. He scraped the back of his hand across his eyes and tried to pull himself together. He took several deep breaths, and would have liked to step back outside to the fresh air, but common sense denied him that pleasure.

Within fifteen minutes, Duo had returned, the slight echo of his footsteps giving him away. "What is it?" Wufei demanded gruffly, though he refused to look back at his approaching friend.

"Look," Duo sighed. "I'm not making any promises; I can't do that when I have no fucking clue what I'm going to do, understand? But the thing is, I can't ask you to fight for anything you don't believe in, and I'm not going to, simple as that. I think it's better if we part as friends now, with the understanding that we might meet again as enemies tomorrow, than to end with one of us stabbing the other in the back because he's pretending to believe something he doesn't."

Slowly turning around brought Wufei surprisingly close to Duo's earnest face. He nodded, and the bitterness that had been building in Wufei's chest became suddenly lodged there much more firmly. "I understand," he said lowly.

"Good." Duo nodded too.

The two of them stood there, for what felt like minutes on end, awkwardly shuffling from one foot to the other, and neither willing to actually say goodbye. Wufei couldn't quite bring himself to meet his friend's eye, until Duo caught him off guard yet again by throwing his arms around him in a warm embrace, which Wufei tentatively returned.

"I'm really sorry," Duo whispered. "For everything. Tell them all that for me, would you?" Unable to say anything around the lump rising in his throat, Wufei just nodded. "And thanks, man, for getting me out of there. I really would have gone nuts if I'd had to stay locked up in that place. And…and…"

There was nothing more to say, except: "Goodbye."

"I'll see you, Duo."

And that was that. With no other words spoken between them, Wufei broke away from the hug, and from there on out the two of them went their separate ways. Wufei didn't let himself look back as he walked out of the warehouse. He freed his hair from its bindings to make himself less recognizable, and walked slowly back through the L-2 streets to his hotel.

That was where it became tricky. He was able to find the building easily enough after some quick consultations with the colony maps available at just about every gas station in the area, but doubtless the hotel had opened his room up to the police for searching and his possessions would have been taken into custody.

The point of returning there defeated, Wufei continued walking right past it. The only thing that had been there which he might have needed was his passport, but he couldn't very well use his own identity for getting off the colony anyway. The only viable option was stowing away somewhere, on a cargo ship or something. Wufei grimaced at the thought -- it was something he hadn't done in six years, and he had never enjoyed it, sitting in the cold, dark cargo hold for hours on end, with nothing to do and no way to move or stretch his limbs. It hadn't been an appealing prospect when he was sixteen years old, and now that he was both taller and broader it was even less so. Too bad it was the only way to go.

In the end, he hailed a taxicab to drive him to the shuttle port, deciding in the end that there was less risk of being recognized that way than by either walking or taking the bus, and exposing himself to more people. From there, it was easy enough to pick a shuttle and get on board without being noticed, and by the middle of the afternoon, Wufei was in space, heading back towards the Earth -- more specifically, Strasbourg -- just as cramped and cold and uncomfortable as he'd predicted -- and in the end more so, because he hadn't eaten since yesterday and had to put up with hunger pangs as well.

Finally, to make a bad day worse, when the shuttle finally landed (at about three o'clock in the morning), the entire city was covered with a thick blanket of fog and rain. By the time Wufei had even managed to creep out of the shuttle port he was soaked. At that point he no longer particularly cared about being recognized, and just waited impatiently for a bus to arrive. Chances were nobody would have recognized him anyway, with the picture he painted then -- soaking wet, utterly disheveled, unshaven, running on two hours sleep… The one thing he didn't want to risk was being caught entering his apartment, and made the easy decision to go to Sally's instead.

Her home wasn't so much an apartment as half of an ancient townhouse left in the more historic, central area of the city. The other half belonged to a wealthy elderly woman who rented it out to tourists on what seemed to be a weekly basis. The electrical wiring and plumbing were about as ancient as the house was, but there was enough room for a tiny yard outside, which Sally painstakingly made use of.

It took half an hour to get there, even with the practically nonexistent early-morning traffic and otherwise empty bus. Wufei tripped over the steps in the dark, and leaned on the bell without letting up until the outside lamp switched on and he heard someone stirring inside.

"What the _hell_ is it?!" Sally grumbled as the door banged open, and she stood there, glowering and blinking owlishly at the same time. Her mouth formed a tiny "o" of surprise as she recognized him, and she demanded disbelievingly, "_Wufei_?"

"Can I come in?" he asked.

Sally stepped sideways, allowing him to walk past her. "I'll get you some coffee," she finally managed, turning away and padding towards the kitchen. "Start getting out of your wet things -- and for God's sake don't drip on my rug!"

"Typical," Wufei huffed quietly to himself, "cares more about her carpet than the guy she's marrying." And he began untying his shoes.

True to her word, Sally returned moments later with not only a steaming mug of black coffee but a towel and bathrobe as well. She sent him into the bathroom to change, and didn't press him until they were both seated comfortably at the kitchen table, which Wufei was grateful for. Of course, there was no putting it off forever, and within moments of his sitting down Sally had started.

"I hope you realize that Une's been in conniptions because of you for the past twenty-four hours."

Wufei snorted into his drink. "I can imagine. She hates dealing with the press."

"I'll have you know I was dealing with my own set of worries thanks to you." Wufei grimaced, and opened his mouth to apologize, but Sally wasn't through yet. She cut him off with, "You've planted yourself and Duo all over the news, called the Preventer agency under suspicion, and never once bothered to let anyone know what was going through your head, much less whether or not you were actually all right."

"Sally I'm _sorry_," Wufei finally managed to cut in.

"I should certainly hope so. But I'm still waiting for some answers."

There was a time, once, long ago, when Sally never would have questioned his actions -- but that was when he owed his allegiance to nobody and people merely joined his cause. That had been during the war. He couldn't help but admit to himself that he was at least half glad that that time was over.

"I just - I just can't believe that Duo deserved to be in there." The words sounded weak, even to himself. Sally was actually unable to help the incredulous gasp of laughter that escaped her lips.

"So you just decided to help him escape, is that it? And _kill_ a man in the process? I suppose you know all this by now, but Une finally managed to get in touch with the Institute. They suspect he has schizophrenia, Wufei. Duo's displaying all the classic symptoms -- paranoia, _delusions_, irrational behavior, and he's right smack in the middle of the age range for men who suffer from the disease to start displaying symptoms. Without treatment, he can only get worse."

"I've just told you that I don't believe any of that! I don't regret my actions in the least bit. Given the chance to do it over, I'd help him again if I had the opportunity." Wufei stared down into his coffee, watching as it sloshed around in his mug, waiting for Sally's rebuttal. It never came. When next he ventured a glance up toward her, she was staring blankly past him, out the window, at the rain dripping down the panes. Her mouth was drawn tightly over her teeth, and Wufei noticed for the first time some lines etched in her face.

"Sally…?"

She stood abruptly, the chair she'd been sitting on scraping loudly across the linoleum. "Wufei, I can't deal with this right now. The police are looking for you and Duo, you know. So are the Preventers."

"Are you going to call them?"

"Who, the police? No. Look…you're welcome to spend the night; I'm going to go back to bed. Shall I set up the sofa bed for you? I'm going to call Une in the morning, regardless of whether or not you stay."

"I will," Wufei assented. He'd have to face up to the consequences at some point. He finished off his coffee and went to put the mug in the dishwasher. "And Sally…I really am sorry…for everything."

She snorted, and Wufei felt the sudden the pressure of her against him. "Don't be," she murmured teasingly in his ear. "I still love you, oddly enough, even after all this."

"It's mutual," Wufei grunted, relieved to have weathered that part of the storm.

Of course, the worst was yet to come.

=====

I haven't finished the next chapter yet; I'm maybe halfway through, but that doesn't mean _anything_ as anyone who keeps up with my other stuff should be able to tell, lol. My schedule and writing inclinations vary daily, so who knows when it'll be finished and put up…I'd wait to post everything after it was finished like I am with 'BTW' but unfortunately I'm also impatient, so I don't. Sorry everyone, but for a little sneak peak of what I've done so far, Mariemaia creeps in for a tad and Wufei gets to have an Une encounter… ::shrugs:: Hopefully there'll be a bit more to it that just that though…


	5. Part Five

Part Five

Wufei didn't wake up until mid-afternoon. Sally wasn't there -- he assumed she was at work -- and nor did there seem to be any police officers pounding on the door to arrest him. Grateful for the leisure time, Wufei was slow to go through the motions of getting up. It took about an hour after he first opened his eyes to actually end up freshened up and dressed.

And then the doorbell rang.

_Should I answer it?_

When, a few minutes later, it hadn't rung again, that decided him. If it was the police or some such other organization, they wouldn't have hesitated to start pounding on the door and threatening to break it down. No, it should be safe. And if it wasn't…well, he wouldn't worry about that.

The girl who stood outside was too tall and too skinny. She had her head bowed down to stare at her toes, and her red hair hung just past her chin, shielding her face. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest as though she knew not what to do with them, and her posture was one of someone utterly uncomfortable inside their own adolescent body. It was an altogether unbefitting picture for one of the almost-dictators of the Earth-sphere.

"Miss Barton," Wufei said stiffly, a little surprised by her presence.

The blue of Mariemaia's eyes, when she looked up at him, was exactly the same as he remembered it, piercing, and hauntingly reminiscent of a certain other soldier Wufei had once stood before. They mockingly informed him that if he was going to be haughty and formal then so was she.

"I overheard Miss Sally's phone call to my mother this morning," she said, "saying that you'd returned home. I didn't really believe that you'd be stupid enough to come back though."

"Is that so?" Wufei returned dryly, and, uncomfortable standing out in the open as they were, he stepped back farther into the house, inviting Mariemaia to do the same. Her cheeks flushed as she walked by him. "Well as you can see, you were quite wrong."

Mariemaia sniffed indignantly. "That's quite plain without your pointing it out to me, Preventer Chang."

"Oh, so I _am_ still a Preventer, then?" Wufei queried, keeping his tone carefully casual. "Your guardian hasn't taken it upon herself to fire me?"

The teenager didn't answer him right away; she was peering about the little annex in feigned interest -- her eyes were very carefully avoiding his own, as if she were embarrassed about something. Wufei shut the door and watched her as she moved around, bending to examine a low-hung photograph on the wall more closely. She was trying to ignore him, but shifting uncomfortably under his gaze.

"What can I do for you, Miss Barton?" Wufei asked finally, fed up with skirting around the girl in front of him. "Why are you here?"

"To welcome you back, of course," Mariemaia replied flippantly. Her casualness was strained, Wufei could see; she was as uncomfortable around him as he was with her -- that had, of course, been the reason he'd avoided being around the young lady for so long. It brought back some treacherous memories to the forefront of his mind, ones which he certainly didn't need to go back over now. Certainly not now.

"The truth," he demanded.

She flushed darker, the pinkish tinge spreading higher on her face. "I -" she began, and spun away from him, once again the fumbling, awkward adolescent. "I wanted to see you, that's all. There's no crime in _that_, is there? I just…I really didn't think you'd be so stupid as to come back, and I really don't think I could bear the idea of never seeing you again, and I…and I…"

Mariemaia shut up suddenly. Wufei remained in his position near the front door, staring at the girl's hunched back wonderingly. If there was an end to her sentence, she never spoke it, and he didn't press her to. He didn't say anything at all, couldn't think of anything. They stood like that for Wufei didn't know how long -- five minutes, ten, perhaps longer.

"Nobody understands," Mariemaia whispered finally, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen.

Wufei felt he must protest or somehow betray some nameless entity hiding somewhere in the depths of his conscience. "I do," he said, trying to make his voice sound gentle.

"No you don't!" she shrieked at him, spinning. "You hate me just as much as they do! You, you hate me too!"

What on Earth was he supposed to reply to that? Wufei wondered to himself. He couldn't very well agree with the statement, but he wasn't entirely certain it wasn't at least partially true, in which case he wasn't going to lie to her by denying it. "I -" he began, but stopped, still not having sorted out what he was going to say.

"It's all right," Mariemaia told him, calming suddenly, but bitterness was still tightening her voice. "You don't have to deny it, Wufei -- I do understand; entirely too well, I think." The guise of a self-important aristocrat was slipping easily back into place over Mariemaia's face, and for all Wufei could see suddenly, she was perfectly at ease again. He almost would have believed it, too, if he hadn't seen the crack but moments ago. "You see," she continued, in a voice that might have well been the same tone that she had used six years ago to declare war on the Earth-sphere. "No one is capable of forgetting that I was very almost the cause of what may have been approximated to the enslavement of the entire human race. My professors at school are actually quite frightened of me; my peers avoid me as though I might infect them with the plague." She laughed a little, a light, girlish sound.

"Mariemaia…" Wufei tried to interrupt, but she no longer seemed to even be aware of his presence.

"I can't blame them, though…I don't suppose anyone could -- I know I'd be just the same if I were one of them instead of myself. There…there are only two people I know who I used to think might possibly _not_ join those crowds of gagglers to alienate me. I - I just wanted to see you, Wufei."

He understood now. And he had always known, subconsciously perhaps, at first, that by taking measures to ensure that he would _not_ have to face Mariemaia Khushrenada-Barton ever again that he would hurt her in the process. But, no, he hadn't cared about that at the time, had he? And over the years, he had grown to care even less, thinking -- hoping -- that perhaps by then she may have even begun to forget his involvement in her army. One of only two people she currently knew who had any involvement in it. No, less. Trowa Barton was off wandering the world, and after all, what had he really been to the Mariemaia cause but a spy?

One person. The only person. _He_ was.

He felt a bit guilty now. But unfortunately that didn't diminish the feeling of discomfort he felt at her presence or his desire to get away from her and turn away from those awful feelings she never failed to stir in him.

She had broken again, the second time in possibly as many minutes. The corners of her lips had involuntarily turned downward in a pout on a face still childish enough for it to look somewhat natural.

"My father," she began, but it was hard to understand the words; her voice was trembling with the effort of holding back tears. "M-my father…"

But Wufei didn't have to hear what Mariemaia was about to say about Treize, for right then Sally arrived home, and in relief Wufei turned round to her, a muttered prayer of thanks underneath his breath. Mariemaia glanced up towards her too, and somehow managed to swallow the sob that had been rising in her throat, choking on it instead.

"Mariemaia…" Sally said with some surprise, glancing back and forth between the girl and Wufei. "When did you get here?"

"I - I stopped here on my way home from school," she mumbled, staring back down at her feet again, but her voice had mostly returned to its normal tones.

"I see…I hope Wufei got you something to eat," she said, giving him a pointed look and mouthing, 'What did you _say_ to her?' '_Nothing_!' Wufei mouthed touchily back, glaring.

"Ah, no, but I'm quite all right, thank you," Mariemaia replied awkwardly. "I'd better be going home, actually. I - I imagine Une will wonder where I am if I'm not home soon."

"Wufei and I will drive you," Sally volunteered cheerfully -- entirely too cheerfully for Wufei's liking. "We need to speak to Une anyway." She glanced at him, and Wufei felt a sinking feeling in his stomach -- obviously, the discussion was going to be on his unauthorized rescue, which he had rather hoped to put off until the next day.

Mariemaia gaped at Sally a moment, obviously as displeased with the arrangement as Wufei was, but she managed to stutter out a word of thanks after a moment, and grudgingly accepted the invitation.

The drive was just as excruciating as Wufei had expected it to be, but Sally pretended not to notice from her position behind the wheel, and painstakingly forced the conversation along at a snail's crawl. She avoided the subject of just _why_ Mariemaia had been at the apartment, but Wufei got the feeling that it would be part of _their_ conversation on the way home.

Une lived about half an hour away, but it was true that Mariemaia could very well have simply stopped at Sally's on her way home from school -- she attended the Strasbourg International School, which was in fact a shorter distance from Sally's home than it was from Une and Mariemaia's. When they arrived, Mariemaia darted inside in front of them like a frightened rabbit, stopping only to give Une a swift greeting before disappearing into her bedroom.

Sally knocked awkwardly on the open front door before herding Wufei inside and shutting the door behind them. Then Une herself strode out from the living room to greet them, a tight, humorless smile adorning her face. "Delivered him to me safely, did you, Sally?" she said, and Wufei couldn't tell whether she was joking or not. Sally didn't laugh, at any rate, and neither did he. "Well come inside, come inside; sit down, both of you." Une ushered them back into the room she had just vacated and gestured vaguely around it to the sofa and various armchairs scattered about. She herself went first over to the cupboard in the far corner and drew out a bottle of scotch and a glass. She threw a questioning glance behind, too, but both Wufei and Sally politely declined the drink.

A few moments of strained silence began the conversation, as Une paced slowly back and forth. "I hope," she finally began, "I hope very sincerely that you understand the awkward position you have put me in, Preventer Chang." Wufei nodded once, silently, from his position on the couch. "Hm. I have spoken to the police about the, ah, situation, and I have managed to convince them to turn over handling you and your…chastisement to me. I may, therefore, be able to provide you with some levity with regard to the charges against you and the accompanying punishment -- however, the public is expecting something and I must, of course, be fair to both sides. And I am also very, very disappointed in you and your behavior. I expected better than this breach in conduct…duty…_law_."

Une paused to levy a piercing stare at him, gauging his reaction to her so far. Wufei was careful to offer none, and was once again grateful that he had long ago schooled himself in keeping his face devoid of expression, as he had once so admired Heero Yuy for doing. Une sighed, and let her glass dangle dangerously from her slender fingers. Sinking down into a chair across from him, she continued, exhaustion coloring her tone, "As I suspect you know, I hold a fair amount of sympathy for your cause, but unfortunately that in no way diminishes the gravity of your actions, and I must act accordingly. You aided in the escape of a potentially dangerous mental patient who is suffering from delusions, and worse still, your actions caused the death of one of the hospital employees, Dr. Peter Cummings. Abuse of your Preventer badge; planned and assisted escape…assisted murder. I ought to fire you right here and now and turn you over to a court of law. Do you have anything to say for yourself, Preventer Chang?"

"No, ma'am," Wufei said coolly, meeting Une's gaze easily. As he'd told Sally the previous night, he believed he'd done the correct thing, correcting an obvious wrong through the only means available to him. He didn't regret helping Duo in the least bit, and he was willing to pay whatever penalty Une saw fit to give him.

"Well, do you accept the charges as they stand?"

Wufei opened his mouth to answer in the affirmative and then hesitated. Abusing his Prevention Organization badge, certainly, he'd done that; assisted in Duo's escape, most definitely; but he hadn't planned to do it, and nor had he meant for anything to happen to Cummings. But to start disclaiming those actions now, he felt, meant turning his back on Duo once again, and betraying his loyalties. And Une was waiting for his answer… "Yes ma'am," he finally muttered.

Une leaned forward and set down her scotch on the coffee-table. "We really ought to be doing this in more formal settings," she half-apologized, and then came back to the situation again. "Preventer Po, do you bear witness to all this?"

Wufei shot a glance over towards Sally, seated next to him on the sofa, and she peeped guiltily down at her clasped hands. "Yes," she mumbled.

"Well then," Une sighed, leaning back in her chair and tilting her face up to the ceiling. "Wufei, I'm suspending you from the force for two months. More than that, in accordance with police wishes, you may not leave the city under any circumstances for an additional six weeks after that. During this time your actions will have to be closely monitored to ensure that you are not only not violating any of these provisions, but also that you are not plotting something else." Une smiled another tight-lipped smile and nodded toward Sally. "I place you in charge of that," she said.

And while she spoke, Wufei suddenly came to a realization. Une was not punishing him because of any thought that she had that he deserved it. She was doing it merely because it was expected of her and had been demanded of her. She didn't really believe that he had been involved in any great wrong. She hadn't demanded to hear an explanation or a justification of his actions; she hadn't even asked if he had any. She was accepting, at face value, that he was, on some baser level than all these alleged crimes he had committed, innocent. The idea, in fact, seemed not to have even occurred to her that he could be otherwise, and for a moment, that realization actually stung. For all Une's talk about the law, she beheld him with enough respect that she was willing to allow his utter negligence of it slide.

Was this what he was then? Was this what he had come to be?

After this sentence-giving, Wufei could already tell that there was going to be nothing more, that things would continue on as unchanged as though he'd never been to L-2.

Wufei supposed that he ought to consider it a gesture of respect and something to be grateful for. But he didn't. He felt almost…offended. This was no punishment; this was hardly respect for the law either, was it? This wasn't…

what…

he'd fought for…

He felt chilled suddenly, as though by a breeze passing through the room, but there was no window open. He felt paralyzed, constricted by his racing thoughts, and remained that way until he became aware of Une's and Sally's eyes resting on him with concern.

"Are you all right?" Sally demanded of him, and from her tone it sounded as though she'd had to repeat it more than once.

He pulled sharply away from their concerned stares. "I'm fine," he answered gruffly, and turning to Une, "Continue; please."

Exchanging a look with Sally, Une cleared her throat and did so. "I only have left to ask whether or not you have any information regarding the whereabouts of Duo Maxwell."

"None whatsoever," Wufei returned coldly, and Une nodded as though this answer was what she'd been expecting -- Wufei had no doubt that it was.

"I shall be sending two of our more trustworthy -" slight emphasis on 'trustworthy' "-agents out to aid the L-2 police in the search for him." Wufei nodded. That was exactly what he had been expecting as well. Une glanced down at her watch, sighing. "I believe that's all. Thank you."

"Not a problem," Wufei replied curtly and stood, more than ready to go.

Une stood also, and walked him and Sally to the door. Just before they were about to go, she stopped them suddenly, reminding Wufei, "You can, of course, expect this information regarding your punishment to be made known to the public."

Wufei returned Une's false, tight smile with one of his own. "Of course."

=====

Well I had hoped to get a little more in here, but it'll keep I think. Sorry for being such a slowpoke everyone! You can thank the fact that I don't have a math exam tomorrow for this chapter getting out tonight, lol. Thank-yous to sadineye, Anoni, Elizabeth Culmer, Relwarc, KaT, and marle for the reviews -- it's always very encouraging to hear from you all! ^_^ Next chapter hopefully something vaguely action-y centric will happen or something. ::sweatdrop::


	6. Part Six

Part Six

"So what was Little Miss Mariemaia doing at the apartment?" Sally queried, as expected, from the driver's seat.

"I don't know," Wufei confessed, leaning back against his headrest. The meeting at Une's had taken longer than he'd realized, and the sun was starting to sink in the sky, staining the clouds red and gold. "She said she'd wanted to see me, but didn't get much farther than that." He paused and then added, "That girl worries me."

He saw Sally's frown from the corner of one eye. "What for?" she asked.

Wufei shrugged. _She has her father's eyes._ "She puts on too good a show. That child has issues; if you ask me, Une hasn't done enough to get her sorted out properly."

"Oh, but Duo hasn't a mental problem in the world, hmm?" The edge in her voice let Wufei know that Sally hadn't quite let him off the hook yet, and he regretted his previous words instantly for the reminder they provoked. "Anyway," continued Sally, "I don't see _you_ stepping up to lend a hand with Mariemaia's upbringing. You avoid her at every turn!"

Wufei didn't have anything to respond to that with, so he dropped his chin to his fist and glared broodingly out the window, watching the sun dip behind the roofs of Strasbourg, determined not to say another word until they were home.

Beside him, however, Sally suddenly burst out laughing. "Where have I seen _that_ pose before?" she teased. "You look just like a cranky teenager when you do that. Come on, Wufei, don't be stubborn; I'm only pointing out the truth." After a moment of awkward silence she went on: "I'm glad you're home, you know. Safe and sound. I was worried about you."

Half of Wufei was glad that he was home as well; the other half was more rebellious in its feelings, tied up in thoughts about Duo Maxwell and his actions and whereabouts -- and now about Mariemaia Barton as well. He tried to concentrate on Sally's warm form lying beside him -- having decided to sit up half the night talking with him, she had then gone on to fall asleep on the sofa bed she had set up for his use -- but his efforts at distracting himself simply were not working.

Wufei knew perfectly well why he disliked meeting with Mariemaia; his dislike and mistrust were perfectly natural and had a root which he and anyone else who cared to could trace entirely too easily. For over a year, he had devoted himself entirely to the cause of war against OZ -- more specifically, he had concentrated on his personal vendetta against its leader, Treize Khushrenada. Having achieved his ultimate goal of killing the man, less than a year later he ironically turned himself into the service of Khushrenada's illegitimate daughter, Mariemaia, and fought a war very similar to the one he had just completed, but on the opposite side. He had lost, in more ways than one. And now, was it _wrong_ that the sight of that child should provoke in him the same keen sense of shame that accompanied most of his memories of that second war? Of course it wasn't.

But -- of course, the dreaded 'but' -- the problem of right and wrong was much more difficult to answer in connection to whether it was wrong of him to _avoid_ Mariemaia (especially when, as she had made perfectly clear to him that afternoon, she had a very strong desire to see _him_) simply to avoid facing up to that feeling of shame. He wanted to know what she had been about to say about Treize before Sally had arrived, interrupting their encounter.

And Duo…

Wufei shivered a little, recalling in connection to his friend the idea that he had fixed on at Une's. This was the thought he both dreaded encountering again and found impossible to avoid while lying there in the dark. This idea was dangerous; thinking about it was playing with fire. Perhaps Wufei knew this because he knew what the foregone conclusion would be. Was.

_This wasn't what I fought for…_

The thought resonated. Surely he wasn't just imagining that. He shivered again, and bent impulsively over Sally, pressing a kiss to her lips, protectively. They were pliable in sleep, yielding gently to him. Wufei kissed her again, more passionately. If he could just forget that thought and be with her, everything would be all right. And it wasn't as if he didn't want her -- he desperately wanted to, for once, give up the strict control he always kept on his more hormonal desires with Sally. He wanted to kiss her and touch her and just…just…fuck her. And if he could only lose himself in that experience, it would surely be more overpowering than anything else that was leaping around in his brain at that moment -- _This wasn't what I _fought_ for!_

But there it was again, that thought, and of course that was exactly why he couldn't wake Sally up and tell her he had changed his mind about waiting until they were married to have sex. He couldn't spoil it with ulterior motives, however tempting. He couldn't take advantage of Sally like that. Wufei could control his desires, but he couldn't control that _one_ thought; before anything else could happen, he needed to confront that idea and deal with it.

Duo had said it first, but so what? They could be talking about two completely different things, for all Wufei knew… But Wufei _did_ know: they weren't. They couldn't be, not really. Duo spoke in terms of liberating the colonies; Wufei in terms of he didn't know quite what -- perhaps that same intangible justice he'd been searching for ever since Meiran…all throughout the war. Perhaps it was that he was referring to now. Because this peace…this peace that they had all worked so hard to build, and build _properly_ so that it wouldn't collapse, so that it would _be_ what they all fought so hard for…this wasn't it.

_'Hilde said you wanted another war…'_

'Well maybe I do.'

But that was Duo speaking again. Did _Wufei_ want another war? A third, after everything that he had been through with the first two? And was another war really a viable solution to what it was they had managed to create…whatever 'it' was…? By destroying this peace could they actually create something better? Now at least they had a start -- surely this was at least a step in the right direction. It _had_ to be, for all their trouble with it.

Duo did not seem to think so -- and Duo was the one who was supposedly, if Wufei was really to believe him as sane as he claimed to be, involved in a one-on-one communication with some sort of divine being.

_Come on…You don't really believe that, do you?_ Wufei questioned himself skeptically. It was really just too much. But unfortunately, there did not seem to be any middle ground to take between the two issues -- either Duo was, in fact, being spoken to by what he referred to as God and was therefore sane; or, the conversations were entirely figments of his delusional imagination, and he was therefore, as the rest of the world chose to believe, mentally ill. And regardless of which Wufei chose to believe, if it came down to it, which of those two choices would he _prefer_ to be the case? Certainly, the first option saved his friend, but at the same time it placed an enormous burden upon their shoulders and held the possibility to break inconceivable stretches of human thought and modern philosophy.

How on Earth could he be expected to come up with an answer of that sort without some proof either one way or the other? Wufei was simply not capable of it -- wild leaps of faith were simply not things he could bring himself to very easily; in spite of the fairly traditional beliefs he held about divinity and the afterlife, he relied more on what he could see and touch. After all, it was not every day that something otherworldly came and bit him on the nose.

Then suddenly, quite out of the blue, Wufei was struck with an idea that could, possibly, provide him with his answers. He was rather surprised he hadn't thought of doing this earlier, but put it down to the fact that it was rather _too_ obvious, as well as a dreadful longshot and something that was bound to make him feel quite silly whether it worked or not. He certainly felt a bit surprised at himself as he got up to carry it out, worming his way carefully around Sally.

The floor was cool against his bare feet, but not as cool as the cement steps leading outside from Sally's kitchen to her back garden. In comparison, the earth beneath the dew was quite warm. Wufei dug his toes into the rich soil. He walked out into the middle of the yard and planted himself there, stretching, raising his arms up slowly into the humid night air. The noises of the city surrounded him, but Wufei easily tuned those out, slipping quietly into meditation.

Nothing happened.

_Talk to me_, he whispered in his mind, filtering his consciousness into that thought.

Nothing happened.

_Talk to me_, he asked again, placing all the religious faith he had behind the request.

But nothing happened.

Wufei's eyes opened. He stared around the garden, from the ivy creeping its way up Sally's rear wall to the vegetable patch nestled in the back of her fenced-in yard. He was starting to feel agitated. He wanted an answer to his question, and receiving nothing was really making him feel foolish. He was standing in his girlfriend's backyard in the dead of night wearing only his pajamas…and to top it all off, he was trying to converse with some possibly nonexistent higher entity.

"Talk to me," he demanded, aloud this time, and with a little bit of anger beginning to color his tone. "Damn it, you talked to him, why won't you talk to me? I'm on Duo's side!"

Nothing.

"_Talk to me why won't you_?!" Wufei kicked at the ground to vent his rage at being ignored by the world and his unanswerable confusion.

No matter what he did that night, his answers wouldn't come, and finally, with the first light of dawn touching the sky, Wufei crept back inside to bed, defeated. He had found no proof, and was left only with a decision to make about whether blind faith was enough.

Sally was at work. It was just past noon, so it was the natural place for her to be. Wufei, on the other hand, was on probation and therefore _not_ at work. He was, instead, morosely making himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast. He ate it in the living room, with the television turned to the news. They were playing the story on him and Duo, and although he knew it could be considered masochistic Wufei wanted to watch. As Une had warned him they would, they were informing the public of all the gory details of his punishment.

Some punishment… There was no one around; Wufei could easily just get up and leave. Nobody cared; nobody would stop him if he tried. It was a tempting idea, just to show them that he could do it, but he had nowhere to go and didn't know if he even wanted to. No, if he was ever going to leave, Wufei would at least wait until he knew what he was going to do once he had gone and had some definite reason for going.

He stared at the television screen numbly as it replayed, for what felt to him like the millionth time, the scene of Duo being brought to the asylum. It was followed by some grainy footage taken from the security cameras at the institute, first of him punching the attendant in the face, then of him and Duo moving toward the lobby doors.

It had been so long, Wufei realized, since the last time he had been portrayed to the public as a villain that he had almost forgotten what it felt like. _I wonder what Heero would have to say in response to this…_ The thought twisted Wufei's lips into a sneer and a surprising wave of dislike towards the man swept over him. Wufei imagined that Heero would be terribly angry; after all, he had _wanted_ Duo put in the hospital and now his work was undone. _That_ was most satisfying to realize. But…

_What now?_ Wufei wondered. He had gotten Duo out of his prison, turned Heero's cruel ideas upside down, and had accepted the light sentences Une had given him for his work. Now he was stuck on the Earth as Duo was stuck on L-2. Duo, fighting for his survival and freedom and ideals while Wufei sat in the relative lap of luxury and did nothing except wonder what his ideals were.

Peace, he had said. Peace had been his ideal. But they _had_ peace, and now he was saying it was unsatisfactory. He had also said freedom. Liberate the colonies, he had once screamed. And hadn't he? Weren't they free to do as they pleased under this new, unsatisfactory peace? He couldn't say they weren't. And he simply could not bring himself to declare, even to himself, that he wanted another war to solve things. Even if he was unhappy with how certain things had turned out, Wufei _did not want_ another war. And that was what mattered, more than his satisfaction -- his desire to keep the peace and work with the system to change it if it was necessary. That was where he and Duo differed in their ideas, and that was why they could not work together. One was happy to resort to violence, the other no longer was. No, in this case, blind faith was not enough.

Wufei sighed in relief, he was so pleased with that conclusion. The guilt that had been plaguing him since he left L-2 was finally subsiding. He and Duo had agreed to part ways with the chance of next meeting supporting two different philosophies, and he was happy to do that now.

Wufei was, in fact, so satisfied with this conclusion that he was now quite ready to confront Une with his other concerns, about his punishment -- and even, if he was brave, about her adopted daughter. He switched off the television and picked up the telephone instead. Fortunately, he had Une's direct extension so he could call her directly instead of going through the office secretaries, and when she answered Wufei confronted her point-blank with his challenge.

Une was surprisingly understanding of his concern and quite willing to justify herself. "I can't fire you, Wufei," she explained. "That was my original dilemma, you see. Naturally, yes, it is the most obvious standard procedure when an agent shows such a flagrant disregard for the laws as you did -- but I _need_ you on this force, Wufei."

Wufei curled the telephone wire around his finger, listening intently to what Une had to say. "But you understand my concern for equal treatment, don't you?" he asked. "Just because I was a Gundam pilot in the war does not mean that I should be considered above the law!"

"Yes, Wufei, I understand that. But _you_ must also understand that at this point in time I have no other agent on your par. Your level of skill surpasses all other Preventer agents, myself included. Look, if every other person in this organization were your equal I would not have hesitated to dole out a much harsher treatment, perhaps even fire you, in spite of our acquaintance, it's true. But that's not the case. And I _know_ you, Wufei. I know you believe in the principles that the Prevention Organization was founded on -- you were one of our first agents, after all. That, in combination with your superior skills, makes you a vital part of the Preventers, and as such I could not afford to lose you to a harsher sentence. I emphasize that the reasoning behind my decision extends far beyond mere favoritism. Now does that set your mind at ease?"

"Marginally, yes. Thank you, Une."

"My pleasure, believe me. I don't want you beginning to question my motives. Now may I presume I shall be seeing you back at work in two months and that you will not be causing me any other problems until then?"

"Yes. Oh -- Une, one other thing…" Wufei drew a deep breath. This was it, by far the more difficult part of the conversation.

"Yes?" she asked, curiosity coloring her voice.

"I wanted to talk to you about Mariemaia. I am…concerned about her. She stopped by here yesterday before we went to see you, as you know. And I want to know the extent of the therapy she received since her attempted _coup_. Yesterday convinced me that she may still have some lingering issues to sort out, especially now that enough time has passed that she must begin to independently deal with the consequences of her choices."

There was a pause on the other end of the line as Une digested this. Finally she said, "I understand your concern, Wufei, but may I ask what specifically has brought this on? You've never taken an active interest before, after all."

Wufei was not below noticing the edge to Une's voice in her last statement and shifted uncomfortably. He had, in fact, _avoided_ taking an active interest, but that didn't mean he was blind when the necessity of it hit him in the face! "It has to do with some issues she began voicing to me yesterday. I am not comfortable disclosing the specifics at this time -- I hope you understand -- but it was what she began telling me yesterday which sparked my concerns."

"Well. I'll look into it and discuss things with her. If I find something I feel needs addressing I will look into finding her more professional help -- _but_, if I feel that there may be a more direct method I will certainly do my best to use it."

Une's words sounded to Wufei rather like a veiled threat. Did she suspect that Mariemaia's issues were_ his_ responsibility to deal with? He harrumphed quietly to himself and couldn't resist a bit of "friendly" advice to close the conversation. "Just tread carefully with her; she's at that age where parents and other adults are enemies to be avoided more than anything else."

Wufei could practically feel Une stiffen on the other end of the line at his patronizing words. _You're telling ME how to raise this child?_ he could hear her thinking, and suppressed a snort of laughter at his success. "I'll keep that in mind," she said sharply. "Good day, Wufei."

"Goodbye," he replied cheerfully before hanging up, relieved that he had settled not only his doubts and concerns within himself but within his job and with Mariemaia as well. His suspension from work was beginning to seem not quite so dreadful as he had anticipated.

=====

::winces:: Yes, I know: I'm a very bad person. Anyway, I have part 7 written as well, and some revisions to make on parts 8 and 9 before they come up, and then this story will be up to date. Sorry -- I go through long periods of simply forgetting that certain places on the Internet exist. And if anyone reading this is also waiting for some of Winners and Losers…I'm afraid I don't know when the next chapter's going to be up. The last I checked it seemed like it was mostly finished, but I've been distracted by this one for the past several months. And school. And college applications (_twelve_ of the darn things!). And your basic real life issues. Anyway, I'll return focus to it eventually, honest I will! ::big, fat, wet sweatdrop::


	7. Part Seven

Part Seven

Things had settled down significantly for Wufei over the past two months away from work. He and Sally had finally settled on a date for their wedding, and with his time off the two of them had been able to get a great many of their plans underway. The service and reception would both be small affairs with only close friends invited. They had reserved the tiny Preventers' chapel for September 25, and the reception afterwards would take place at Sally's. Wufei had even begun the process of moving in.

And throughout that time he had heard nothing of Duo, which he found very encouraging. Obviously nothing large had happened involving his former comrade or the Preventers would not have been able to hide it from the media, and he was fairly sure that smaller events would have been reported to him by Sally. But Wufei had heard nothing, which led him to believe that Duo had perhaps obeyed common sense for once and was simply lying low and avoiding trouble. Hopefully he had even dropped his idea of making war. If that were the case then things seemed to have finally returned to normal. Wufei was back at work, and things seemed the same as when he had left -- better, perhaps, because he was finally dealing with some of his misgivings left over from the Mariemaia conflict.

Yes, he was finally feeling up to facing his past mistakes, and steadfastly made it a point to acknowledge the girl whenever he saw her. He was rewarded each time for his effort by a more cheerful expression appearing on her face.

The phone on Wufei's desk rang once, indicating an internal call, and so he reached for the receiver. "Smoke here."

"My office, Smoke. Now."

Une's voice had the tense, snappy feel to it that it did whenever Wufei was assigned a new mission, so eagerly he hung up the phone and strode quickly out of his office and towards the elevator at the end of the hall. After months with nothing to do, the opportunity to get back into action was irresistible.

The Commander's office in Preventer Headquarters was more like a suite. It was located in the center of the building so as to be most accessible and two glass doors opened into a tiny waiting area where Une's personal assistant -- a position which was filled by a different person yearly, all rookie Preventers there to learn the ropes -- resided to take appointments and to file all the paperwork which came the Commander's way. Wufei nodded to the young man behind the desk and continued to Une's own, private office. He knocked once before going in and shutting the door behind him.

It was a marginal shock for Wufei to see that the other person standing next to Une was not the partner he was used to but Preventer Fire. After he and Sally had announced the date of their wedding, Une had thought it best to assign them each new partners to ensure that personal feelings would not jeopardize the success of any mission. Thus, Une's two top romantically involved teams were simply shuffled a bit and Wufei was now partnered with Noin.

He was a bit disappointed with the arrangement -- he would have preferred to be with Zechs if any change was necessary, simply because he thought that he and Zechs were more like-minded. Noin, he secretly thought, could at times be too easily persuaded to be merciful where mercy should not be an option. Nevertheless…the situation being what it was, Wufei turned his mind back to the present and chose to focus on Une's new assignment for them.

Fire was holding something that looked like a photograph, so Wufei walked closer to have a look. She handed it to him freely, and Wufei was looking down at a picture of a young woman, perhaps a year or two older than he was. She would be fairly pretty, he thought, if not for the long red scar running vertically from beneath her right eye to her chin. That was the young woman's most prominent feature; the others were more delicate and bland. She had nondescript gray eyes and wavy light-blonde hair to her shoulders. She was about average height, perhaps a little on the short side. She was slender but did not look particularly muscular or athletic. In the photograph she was dressed blandly as well, wearing a simple gray sweater over a pair of khaki-colored slacks and sneakers.

Wufei studied the photo for a moment more before looking up at Une and asking, "Who is this?"

"A former Alliance spy," she replied. "Her name is Middie Une."

"A relation of yours?" Wufei asked curiously, but Une only shrugged.

"It's possible she may be a distant cousin, but I have my doubts. That's unimportant at any rate. What _is_ relevant is that I have received word from one of our agents that she may soon be making an attempt to assassinate the Vice Foreign Minister."

"An assassination attempt!" Noin repeated in surprise, bending back over the photograph in Wufei's hands.

"That's right. Naturally, we must stop her. I want you two heading the operation. We need stealth in this instance, above all. After all, if this girl was a spy once she will still know the tricks of the trade and we'll have to be careful not to tip her off and send her running where we can't catch her. Understand?" Both Wufei and Noin nodded, and Une went to sit down, motioning for the others to do the same.

"Fire," she continued, "I want you ready to follow her, and Smoke I'm stationing you here to head up the security around Ms. Dorlian. No one and nothing gets in to her without your approval. And Fire, as soon as you have anything the least incriminating on this Middie don't waste time, go in and arrest. Any questions?"

"Do we know where she is?"

Une smiled grimly. "We have an idea. If we're right, she's currently staying at the Crowne Hotel on colony 93346 in the L-3 cluster. They have confirmed that someone under that name has checked in there and the description given matches our target. She doesn't seem to be trying to hide quite yet. We don't know how long she'll be staying -- so Fire, you'll have to leave as soon as possible. I have a commercial shuttle ticket ready for you under the name of Virginia Watson and a reservation for you at the hotel under the same name. Can you be ready to leave by this evening?"

Noin nodded. "Do you have a cover story ready for me?"

Une handed two sheets of paper to both of them -- the general mission parameters and detailed specialized instructions. "You were married to Tad Watson, an Alliance army officer during the war. He was declared a traitor and executed three months before the end of the war. Use that; try and get close to her. Smoke? anything?"

"A copy of the Vice Foreign Minister's schedule?"

"Available from her secretary. This is a top priority case right now, you two, so Smoke you will be reporting to the Minister's offices for duty until this is over. Contact time for you, Fire, is 8 pm L-3 time. If that's everything, Fire go and get ready; Smoke go and start checking in with the Vice Foreign Minister. And Smoke -- the less she knows the better." Wufei nodded, and Une barked, "Dismissed!"

Wufei nodded and stood, folding his mission parameters in half to stick them in his inside jacket pocket for safekeeping. Noin turned to him outside the door, stating for his confirmation, "Eight o'clock tomorrow then -- two o'clock for you -- the inside Preventer line." Wufei nodded, and the two of them quickly parted ways.

Noin slept on the shuttle ride to L-3 in the hopes of avoiding jet lag. Her two bags were packed full of clothes that did not belong to her, and in her tiny carry-on briefcase (which also did not belong to her) she had stowed her mission parameters.

Virginia Watson was an interesting character, to be sure. As Une had said, her husband had been accused of treason and executed by the Alliance three months before the Eve Wars had finished, and Virginia continued to be bitter about his death and to proclaim his innocence. The Alliance, she felt, had betrayed _him_, and though Tad had remained loyal to it to the end of his days, Virginia felt no such compulsion. She was thirty-one years old, and as angry at the new government for refusing to acknowledge her husband's innocence as at the old. Noin was to use these sentiments and Virginia's openness about them to bring herself closer to Middie Une and attempt to goad the other woman into revealing something incriminating. The obvious challenge was that Middie was a former spy; she would know tricks of the trade and not be likely to open up to just anyone.

Noin had no particular relish for such missions -- but she understood why she had been assigned to the job. Une was still cautious about sending Wufei to the colonies on missions, and Zechs had been too prominent a figure during the war for him to go. Moreover, as Relena's brother he was not suited to watching over her if Sally were to go. And as they were the Preventers' top four agents, in such a delicate case Une was unlikely to want to trust anyone else. Which, distasteful though it was to her, left Noin. And even if she wasn't terribly fond of going undercover, it wasn't as though she couldn't do it. One way or another, she could -- and _would_ -- get Middie Une into Preventer custody.

7:30 am L-3 time found Noin checking into the Crowne Hotel under her assumed name. It was a nice hotel, but not overly expensive or luxurious. While Noin was busy signing in, she took an opportunity while the clerk's back was turned getting her key to find Middie Une's name and room number. By the time the man had turned back to her, Noin was putting the final flourish on her signature. He handed her the key to room 490, and Noin hid her smile. If the hotel was built in the old-fashioned, box-shaped design it appeared to be, her room would be directly above Middie Une's; moreover, each room had a tiny balcony outside of it -- which could, if worst came to worst, provide Noin with access to the young woman's room, and hopefully to enough of her secrets to allow for her arrest. If things continued this well, Noin thought she might be able to return to Earth in a week or so.

She stowed her things in her room, and then returned downstairs with a book to find a table for herself in the hotel's dining room. She was early enough, Noin felt, that she might have the opportunity for an early encounter with Middie if she waited long enough. She selected a table near the entrance's archway and ordered a pot of coffee from the waitress who descended on her. Luck did indeed seem to be with Noin that morning, for she did not have long to wait before a young woman who was almost certainly Middie Une walked into the room.

"Good morning," Noin greeted her, as though she was simply extending a polite acknowledgment. The young woman's head spun toward her in faint surprise, giving Noin the opportunity to see that although the woman's scar was well-concealed under heavy makeup it was certainly still there.

"Good morning," Middie Une returned quickly, and with a slightly calculating glare. Apparently she was unaccustomed to overly-ebullient people capable of striking up conversations with any old passer-by.

Noin smiled wanly and said, "I've just checked in for a long weekend; are you here on vacation?"

"No," was the reply, followed by a brief pause. Then, "I'm here on business."

The added information indicated that Middie was apparently not entirely adverse to conversation, which caused Noin to smile slightly more widely. "Oh!" she said, inwardly grimacing at playing a character so unlike herself. "Are you from L-4 then? or perhaps Earth?"

A short hesitation before Middie replied, "L-4, yes."

"I'm from the colonies as well," Noin supplied, "although when I married a man who lived on Earth I moved there for several years. I've returned to L-2 now, though." Everything was going wonderfully smoothly; Noin was chatting with the suspect and easily slipping her cover story into place through the conversation.

"Oh?" Middie asked, furthering things along nicely. "How did you convince your husband to move back? People from Earth are usually quite disinclined to leave it."

Noin pursed her lips and stared down at the tabletop. "My…my husband died," she said quietly. "In the war. The…the bastards in the Alliance executed him. You're from the colonies, you understand how they were, I'm sure." She flicked her eyes back up to Middie's face to weigh in the woman's reaction to her words.

A slightly bitter sneer had descended onto her lips. "Oh yes," she replied, "I know how they were. Quite well."

"Bastards."

"Yes. Bastards," Middie agreed quietly.

"My husband was innocent," Noin said, letting a slight quaver enter into her voice before letting it get swallowed by the hard tone which followed in her next statement. "And the idiots in power now still won't recognize that. I've fought for six years to clear his name. No one will listen. No one cares anymore. They think that now the wars are over it's all just going to go away and they can just forget about the harm done to everyone. Well they can't! I'm not going to stop until they clear Tad's name!" Noin shut up quickly, as if suddenly realizing what she had been saying, and glanced around in embarrassment. A few people at neighboring tables were shooting glances at her, but she hadn't seemed to have aroused that much attention. "I'm sorry," she laughed, wiping the residual anger from her posture. "I shouldn't talk that way to you, a perfect stranger!"

Middie Une remained serious, a contemplative look spreading across her face. "The war's not over yet," she said abruptly, but perfectly serious. "It won't be until people like you have their justice. There are lots of people with problems like yours, you know. But…as you said, this is hardly a topic of conversation for two strangers to be discussing." She smiled faintly. "I must be going. I only stopped in here for a cup of coffee; I have a business meeting which I've got to leave for in a few minutes."

"Well perhaps I shall see you sometime again this weekend. It was nice meeting you."

"Yes. It was a pleasure. Goodbye."

"Goodbye!" Noin called cheerfully as Middie Une walked away from her, into the bustle of the dining room. Noin watched her progress across the room, and sipped at her coffee. As soon as Middie left for her "business meeting" Noin would be leaving too. So as Middie crossed back in front of her to leave, Noin pretended to be deeply engrossed in her book; then, as Middie departed, she counted silently to five, got up, and followed her.

Middie was just reaching the doors to the street when Noin exited the dining room; by the time Noin had gotten to the doors Middie was well down the sidewalk, heading left. Noin continued trailing her in such a manner until Middie trotted up the steps of a lavish old building and disappeared inside. Noin was hesitant about following her inside, but took note of the building's name -- the Carnivale Playhouse -- and how to find it so that she could return later that evening to check it out.

Noin spent the rest of that day unpacking and had another quick nap before dinner and her scheduled check-in with Wufei. "I've made contact and have a lead I'm going to check up on tonight," she told him. "I assume you've upped security around the target?"

"Of course," Wufei coolly replied. "Everything is calm over here. I have nothing to report."

"Well I suppose no news is good news in this case," Noin said with a wry smile.

"And extremely dull."

Noin smirked. "Take care, Smoke. If everything continues the same way it did today you'll be back to your regular job in no time. Signing off." Wufei's features disappeared into static as Noin terminated the connection and dropped the tiny communicator back into the hidden pocket of her suitcase. Grabbing the formless black jacket and cap that had been provided her, Noin then headed out the door of her room and away towards the theater.

There were no lights on inside the building when she got there, even though the overhead colony lights were dimming on the street where she was. A doorman was pacing back and forth at the top of the steps, and Noin wondered what it was inside that was so important it needed a guard. She went up to him and casually inquired, "What's playing here?"

He looked back over at her with a look of faint surprise. "Nothing," he said. "This here theater is a historical colony site; this building's two hundred years old, left from when the L-3 cluster first came up into space."

"Oh!" Noin said, surprised now in her own turn. "Is it open for tourists?"

The man shook his head. "Well it's not _now_; it's only open during the daytimes."

Noin nodded. _Figures_, she thought. "Are there guided tours?" she asked. "Or is it like a museum where you can wander at leisure?"

"Well there's guided tours, sure, if you want 'em. You can just walk around too, though."

Noin smiled. She had found her hotspot for the next several days.

Her hotspot was also, Noin realized with a rueful sigh, awfully boring. She couldn't imagine what Middie could be hiding in there, and was in fact beginning to think that the ex-spy had realized that Noin was following her and had simply ducked into the theater to throw her off track. If that were the case, Noin really was screwed -- there was no way she'd ever get anything out of Middie.

Sighing again, Noin glanced quickly behind her to see if anyone was looking. The backstage area was off-limit to visitors, so Noin was sure that if anything was in the theater that she could use, it would be there. Fortunately for her, the place was just about devoid of visitors, so she was easily able to sneak in and make her way through the wings.

She had never done any theater in school and only rarely went to see any shows, so as a result Noin was (by her own admittance) completely unfamiliar with stage architectural styles -- particularly the kind that had been prevalent two hundred years ago when the first colonies were launched into space. She didn't really have any idea where to go to find something that had been hidden -- and the place really didn't look as though it had anything much to hide; it was so dark back there that it might as well be that she was the first person to venture back there in years.

The dust was the worst part; it flew up into her face with her every step, obscuring her vision even more than the dark alone would have done. Noin fanned her hand in front of her face, trying to get some fresh air to breathe so she wouldn't choke.

That was when she heard it behind her. A footstep. Immediately, Noin froze, then slowly began to reach her right hand into her pocket for her gun. Too late. Arms grabbed her from behind, one hand clamping down over her mouth and the other pinning her arms to her sides so she couldn't move.

She was beginning to move her foot around her assailant's leg to trip him up when the person's voice -- the person's terribly familiar voice -- whispered into her ear, "Are you here for Duo too?"


	8. Part Eight

Part Eight

"Middie is working for Duo?!" Wufei clutched at the edge of his desk with both hands in an effort to hold himself steady. "You had better be pretty damn certain of that, Fire!" He hadn't any need for confirmation of Noin's statement, though; it was plain to see from her face that she was certain -- and that she was also hesitant about reporting those facts to him.

"Don't do anything rash." Noin sounded calm and rational (and, to Wufei's ears, damn sanctimonious). "The situation is under control."

Wufei narrowed his eyes. To Noin, perhaps, the situation was under control -- preparations were doubtless already underway to return Duo to the loony bin, this time under lock and key. "What about the officers previously sent out to find him?" Wufei demanded, determined to make his point and get himself out there and involved with the situation. "Duo was able to elude them…" He trailed off as Noin flinched slightly and gave herself away: Duo had done more than simply elude capture, he had disposed of the agents sent after him. And as it had been an inside Preventer event Une had had control over who heard of it. Obviously, no one had trusted _him_ with that information.

"The situation is under control," Noin repeated more sternly. "You are not coming out here, Smoke, get that idea out of you head right now. I have the backup assistance I need to apprehend the targets. _You_ are needed with the Vice Foreign Minister in case anything unexpected occurs. Do you understand?"

Wufei drew a deep breath and let it out slowly before allowing himself to respond. "Yes. I understand." _But that doesn't mean I'm going to obey _your_ orders…_ He just somehow _knew_ that he had to go out there. "Who is your backup? They had better be good; they'll need to be."

"They are." Noin hesitated momentarily, her eyes dropping to the floor. "Pilot 01 has made a reappearance and will be aiding me in the raid."

Wufei was so stunned that for a moment he actually did not believe his ears. _Heero_ had revealed himself to Noin and was going to assist her in getting Duo back under control? Impossible. Then he leaned limply back into his chair and shut his eyes. Disastrous. He _had_ to go now; he had to…to warn Duo…

"Signing off." He punched the button on the comm unit to terminate the communication and then just sat a moment, numb. He was disgusted with himself. He was actually planning on violating his probation and betraying the organization he worked for, for a _second_ time. And he was going to do it to protect someone he didn't even agree with! When had he gotten to be so wishy-washy, so squeamish? "What the hell's wrong with me?" he groaned into his hand. "What in the hell is wrong with me?"

===

It was almost noon. Wufei was almost frantic; he hoped he wasn't too late, but it had taken him that much time since Noin's last communication to get there. He didn't see Noin or Heero anywhere around, but he didn't expect to; naturally they would be well hidden -- either that or they were already in the building, taking over.

Either way, Wufei had finally decided he didn't care. It had taken him his entire journey, but he had come to the conclusion that he no longer cared about whether or not he was throwing away his future so long as his conscience was clear. And though he didn't understand it, this was the only way to keep it clear.

He ran up the steps of the Carnivale Playhouse and into the building. His hand was resting on the hilt of his gun, just in case. He ignored the queue he was supposed to use to get inside and easily bypassed the tubby security guards who tried to stop him from barging his way in there. "_Duo_!" he yelled as he sprinted along, not giving a damn who heard him or what they thought of him. "_Duo_!"

He was following the same intuition that Noin had done the previous day and was working his way backstage when Heero stepped out of the shadows, aiming his gun point blank at Wufei's chest. "I expected you'd show up," he said coldly. "Three times a traitor."

"At least I have my honor," Wufei growled as he lunged past Heero. He heard the gun go off and felt a bullet graze the top of his shoulder, taking a small nick out of him as it went. Heero's mistake: any secrecy that he might have hoped for would certainly be gone now. Duo would be ready for them. Wufei fired blindly behind him in return and picked up his pace.

There were stairs ahead, some leading up and others down. Wufei chose down, continuing to yell his warning as he went. He couldn't tell if Heero was close behind him or not. There was a hallway stretching away from him at the bottom of the stairs, dimly lit but seemingly well used -- either storage space or dressing rooms was Wufei's guess. Whichever, neither mattered, because finally -- finally, Duo was there, alive and prepared for trouble. There were others with him, too, people whom Wufei had never seen before, but all of them were armed; and it was this group of people who began running up the hall toward him. Wufei thought for a moment that they were charging him -- but no, they were going past him, up the stairs to meet Heero's ambush. It was Duo who, smiling, came for him, wrapping him up in a brotherly hug and thumping him on the back. "Thank you," he said, over and over again, but Wufei wasn't sure whether he was the one Duo was thanking or not.

"You've got to get out of here," Wufei panted.

Duo nodded, turning serious at Wufei's words. "Yeah," he admitted, "everything's starting a lot sooner than I thought. -- But it's nothing, everything will be okay. We'll get out; the guys know where to meet me. We're gonna start this thing today and by the time we're finished everything will be fine. Better than fine, even!" He grinned again, the cheeky smirk Wufei was used to seeing from their Gundam pilot days. "Follow me."

He led Wufei through the tiny web of corridors underneath the old colony theater, out of the maze and into a tiny lot outside -- presumably where the actors and stage crew would have gone during their breaks for a breath of fresh air. A wave of relief washed over Wufei, leaving him a little wobbly-legged. His giddiness was short-lived, though, because the sound of shots and shouting from inside quickly drew him back to reality. Sirens were also beginning to sound in the distance.

"Will they be all right in there?" he whispered.

"It's two against twenty and we knew they were coming. Out soldiers aren't trained really well yet, but they know enough to get out of there without too much fuss or blood. Besides, they've gotta get used to fighting Preventers sometime. Now come on -- it's the two of us I'm worried about. I'm the real target here and your being with me isn't exactly going to look good for you either, you know."

Duo started walking again, briskly. Wufei hesitated only a second, to check the wound on his shoulder. Fortunately, it wasn't at all serious; some antiseptic ointment and bandages and it would be fine in about a week. He touched it gingerly, and though his fingers came away sticky, his shirt had done quite a good job of staunching the blood. He hurried to catch up with Duo.

"Where are we going?" Wufei asked, looking around.

"You'll see. Now shut up, I think someone's found us." Wufei listened, and sure enough, on the other side of the walled-in lot, the side of the main street, footsteps were racing towards them. "Trying to cut us off at the entrance," Duo hissed. "Of course, it figures… We'll just have to do our best, there's no other way out."

He started running, and Wufei followed, listening to their pursuer do the same on the other side of the wall. Up ahead, at the corner, the cement wall became a chain-link fence and had a gate leading out into the back alley. Duo reached it a few paces before Wufei did and began fumbling it open, just as Heero appeared at the head of the alley.

"Clever, Heero!" Duo called to him. "Find the other exit and block it, huh? Well sorry, pal, but it ain't going to work this time."

"Shut up, Duo."

The gate swung open and Duo walked out, ignoring Wufei as he stomped up towards Heero. "You have a gun to make me? Funny, doesn't look like it. Did you lose it inside or something? Did my guys surprise you a little bit, maybe? A bit better than you expected, huh? Now get out of my way."

"Damn it, Duo -- you're crazy and I'm not going to let you ruin this world!"

"You don't have a weapon. You can't kill me." That was it; Heero sprang forward like a tiger going for its prey. Duo met him head on, and though they wrestled for a few minutes, neither got much headway against the other until Duo called Wufei over to help. Even with his shoulder hurt, with two against one the advantage was, for once, not on Heero's side. As Duo released his grip on Heero's neck the ex-pilot sagged to the ground, unconscious. Duo sighed and stepped backwards, leaning against the wall to catch his breath.

"He just doesn't get it, does he?" he asked sadly of Wufei. "He just doesn't get that we're both fighting for the same thing. I'm not trying to ruin the world, Wufei," he said, turning to his friend with an almost desperate look on his face. "I'm trying to make it the best that it can be… This is just the only way. This is the path that I've been led to."

Wufei shifted uncomfortably, as the time came yet again for him to play Devil's Advocate. "Can you prove that?" he asked quietly.

"What?"

"I asked if you can prove it," Wufei repeated more firmly. "Look, Duo… I've been running around here playing both sides of this stupid game like a lunatic, trying to make sure no one I care about dies or gets hurt. That needs to stop, right? I can't fight both sides. I've _tried_ to convince myself that what you're doing is wrong and that what you're saying is crazy, but practically despite myself I just keep on getting dragged back over to you. So I need to know for sure if you're doing the right thing."

Duo just stared at him.

"You've got to admit that some of what you're talking about is pretty damn far out there! This isn't just some kid asking, 'Okay God, if you exist, let me find a quarter over this next hill' -- this is life and death, this is a fucking _war_ you're starting! I'm _just_ asking you to show me how you're on the moral high ground here, and if this divine presence is really talking to you and guiding you that shouldn't be beyond you." When Duo still said nothing, it was all Wufei could do to keep himself from taking him by the shoulders and shaking him until he answered. "Don't you get it?!" he shouted, "_I'm telling you that I'm willing to give up everything I've got_ if you can just prove to me that you're right! Just _prove_ it to me."

Duo shook himself a little, as if rousing himself from sleep. He looked indecisive for a minute and then told Wufei, "You don't want that."

"What?! Duo, yes I do! I wouldn't be asking if I didn't want the proof, if I weren't killing myself trying to figure it out on my own!"

Defiant, Duo stood up and demanded, "Well what if it kills you to know and that's just the way it is? What _then_?"

Wufei was slightly taken aback by the ferocity of Duo's words, but he drove on. "Then at least I'll know if I'm right or wrong."

Duo was pacing back and forth, a nervous frown creasing his forehead. Doubt began to settle in Wufei's stomach, along with a burning disappointment. "It's not up to me," Duo said, and Wufei suddenly realized, _He can't do it. He's basing all this on air._

But then he went on, "I don't know when it'll happen, Wufei, and honestly I wish it wouldn't, but like I said I can't control it. So just know that it will, okay?"

"_When_?"

"I don't know! Too soon, that's all I can say. Is that good enough for you?"

===

Wufei sank into the cushioned shuttle seat and leaned back against the headrest while Duo settled in next to him. "You really are something," he remarked, somewhat disapprovingly, but Duo only laughed.

"You got that right, buddy! Anyway, I don't see _you_ refusing free passage off-colony."

Wufei didn't bother to respond; there was nothing for him to say -- Duo knew perfectly well that he was in control and that for the moment Wufei was simply following him.

"It's lucky we're getting off this quickly," Duo continued, "They'll be stopping everything in a couple of hours, trying to find us."

"It won't take them long to figure out where we've gone, either," Wufei countered. "Noin -- and Heero especially -- aren't stupid, it won't take them long at all to connect us to the stolen tickets. You'd better have a plan, Duo. A good one."

"They're only going to be able to trace us into the L-2 cluster; they're not going to be able to stop all travel between the colonies of a single cluster, that would be impossible. They'll never be able to find us until we're ready for them."

"Hm. We'll see." Wufei was silent for a few minutes, but then his curiosity got the better of him. "Duo…" he asked slowly, "why are you so against my having proof that you're right?"

"You just don't give up, do you?" Duo sighed. "Why are _you_ so adamant about having it? After all, no one else who's with me has any more proof than you do right now, they're just with me because their beliefs and their faith tell them to."

"None of the other _pilots_ seem to have joined up with you and your faith," Wufei retorted. "In fact, they seem rather set against it, don't you think? Of the five of us, you and I are the only two on this side -- and you've _got_ your proof, you're the one talking to this thing! Look…maybe we're just two different sorts of people. I've come this far for you on blind faith, Duo, now I just need to know that I'm doing the right thing."

Duo hunched over in his chair, thoughtfully, his eyes faintly troubled. "Do you remember," he asked, lowering his voice further so no one could overhear him as the shuttle began to fill up, "when you asked me why _I_ was the one being spoken to? I told you that it might be because I was the one who was willing to listen. Well… I've been doing a lot of thinking since then, especially since so many people began joining my cause, and I'm beginning to think that I'm the only one He talks to because I'm the only one He _can_ talk to, you know?" He paused, thinking over his last words. "That sounds like such a cop-out. Have you ever read the Bible?"

"Only a little."

"Well, there's a famous prophet written about in there named Moses -- and he's famous because he's the only one of his people who can talk to God face-to-face. Now, I'm not trying to say I'm a second Moses or something…but it seems possible that maybe there are only ever a few people in the world that can actually stand to have this sort of communication going on inside of them, and anyone else would be hurt or killed by it. I don't think you're taking that risk seriously."

"Maybe I'm not," Wufei admitted, "but this is something I need to know before I go any farther helping you. I think that's reasonable."

"I guess we'll see." Duo laughed, but the sound lacked conviction; he was still nervous.

Wufei found himself annoyed by Duo's continued reluctance over the matter and to avoid talking about it further announced, "I'm going to sleep."

===

The arrival on L-2 and the jump to U3446 went smoothly. They were taken there, to Wufei's surprise, by Duo's old friend Howard, who had apparently decided to throw in his lot with Duo once again. On the colony, Duo waved goodbye to Howard and again took the lead, steering Wufei through the winding streets until they stopped short in front of an old, rundown Laundromat. "Welcome to our base of operations," Duo told him and opened the grimy door.

It was almost empty, except for an old lady sitting in front of one of the washing machines and a middle-aged, balding man behind the counter. Duo waved at him as they walked past, and led Wufei over to a door marked Employees Only, which opened onto a set of stairs down to the basement.

They were the only two people down there, but the floor was strewn with mattresses and other signs of human occupation. "You live down here?" Wufei asked, incredulous.

"Those of us who have nowhere else to go, sure. It's big, it's comfortable enough, it's soundproof. No one knows we're here, what better place is there?"

Wufei walked slowly around the space, and had reached a large, somewhat clumsily constructed radio when Duo grabbed him and spun him around. His eyes were wide and feverish and he demanded excitedly, "Are you ready?!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than suddenly all Wufei's awareness was taken up by a loud roar, as if some door in his consciousness had just opened up and this sound was suddenly free to rush in. It was as though there was no room inside of him for anything else, and the pressure beating outwards against his skull was enormous. And rather than ebbing away it seemed to grow stronger with each passing moment until it was almost unbearable and spread to encompass his entire body. Wufei was almost certain that he was about to explode; everything hurt so badly he couldn't even see… There weren't even spots or pricks of light in front of his eyes, there was just black, empty space all around him.

Before long, it began to seem as though Wufei had been there his entire life. He had always been feeling this pain, always been listening to this indescribable thunder. Perhaps there had never even been any place but this black hole he was in…

When Wufei finally came to himself, he was kneeling on a cold tile floor in front of a toilet, throwing up. His muscles kept seizing up, cramping and then relaxing and spasming. He was soaking wet, from sweat and tears and he didn't know what else. Never had Wufei felt so out of control of his own body in his life; and when his arms and legs could no longer support him he collapsed into a boneless heap on the floor.

===

He woke up lying on his back on a mattress. The events immediately preceding his loss of consciousness did not come instantly to mind, but drifted back to him slowly and dimly, as if they had been a part of a past life or a dream. It was…completely and utterly surreal.

Wufei opened his eyes, and there was Duo on a stool beside him. He shrugged one shoulder and heaved a sigh. "There's your proof, pal." He shrugged again. "Sorry."

"That's your God?" Wufei asked loudly, but his voice only came out as a harsh rasp. "That's your God telling you to fight this war? How the _fuck_ did you get _that_ message out of _that_ feeling?" And then, much more importantly, "How do you live with that?"

A wince. A short chuckle. "It's…different for me. I guess it's like I told you, there are only some people who can live with it. It's just not as rough on me as it obviously is on you. I mean, quite frankly, I think it would kill a lot of people on the spot. I'm not surprised the last Moses we hear about is from who-knows-how many thousands of years ago. I dunno. I can read that, though. And -- you know, I bet if you concentrate really hard, Wufei, I bet you can too."

Wufei shuddered involuntarily. "I wouldn't want to."

"There's more behind what I'm doing than just that, though. People aren't joining me just because they believe God's talking to me, you know. They're coming in because I'm right. You live on the Earth, Wufei, where the Preventers are. You don't know what it's like up here in space anymore. That's why you fought before -- because you knew what it was like. You had knowledge and understanding that the people living on Earth didn't. You've lost that now. So let me fill you in a bit." Duo took a long, deep breath, and Wufei was content to just lie back and listen for a while.

"Okay. To start. You and me, and everyone you know -- _we_ all know that Quatre Raberba Winner is a good guy, right?" Wufei raised a brow. He didn't know how anybody could believe that Quatre was anything else. "Exactly. But the problem is, a few years down the road, what about the guy who inherits all his cash? His business? His _power_? Is there any guarantee that the next person who gets all that is going to be as selfless as our Quatre? No way, especially seeing as the Winner Corporation is family owned and operated. Now, don't object yet, I've got more to say. I know that a few corrupt businessmen are not that huge a deal, especially when the ones we're talking about haven't even cropped up yet. The biggie, even with someone as great as Quatre, is the sheer amount of control that his wealth gives him.

"The war wiped everything out. No one's gonna dispute that, right? Practically the only industries that were booming were the mobile suit manufacturers. War's over, they go bust. What the hell is left? Entire cities are in ruins on the Earth and there's no longer an established government to do anything about it. The colonies were falling apart _before_ the war and none of their governments were thriving enough to help out -- how are they supposed to do that _after_ they fought that expensive war? Yet look at the Earth today. And I know what you see the colonies as, too -- sparkling gems and oases in the middle of space, right? Recession's over, rah rah rah? Well come on, Wufei, where'd all that money come from? I can think of three families. Know who they are?"

Wufei nodded uncertainly, still unsure but thinking he knew where Duo's reasoning was beginning to take him.

"The Winners. The Dorlians. And the Peacecrafts. And those last two are embodied in _one_ person and one alone: Miss Relena, former Queen of the World and current Vice Foreign Minister. And the Winners -- well, obviously Quatre's at the head of that one now. Is it a _coincidence_ that they also happen to be the two individuals on the Earth and colonies that have the most power and influence? Come on, a person would have to be pretty dumb to believe that. Do you have _any_ idea how much control those two people have, Wufei? _Any_ idea? Quatre's not technically a part of the government and yet he's more influential than anyone else in the colonies. The colonial governments are so damn scared of doing anything without his approval. And, you know, he's a sweet guy and one of the best people I've ever known…but nobody should have that much power. No one person should be more powerful than the government they live under. That makes sense to you, right? And the way it is now -- and the way it's going to be for the rest of the foreseeable future if we don't do something -- the colonies _depend_ on Quatre Winner. They _need_ him. He has the power to _control_ them. That's not right, and that's why it's such a big deal that the people in Quatre's place years from now might not be such good guys. You see what I'm saying?"

"Yeah… Yeah I can see why you think all this is such a problem, but shouldn't that make your fight be against Quatre and the colonial governments instead of against the Earth?"

"No, because it's not their fault. They can't be any other way with the Earth in position it is. Two hundred years ago, Earth sent the colonies up into space, which automatically put the Earth in the dominant position. It was the Earth governments setting up puppet governments in space with the purpose of using them and controlling them to gain more power on the planet. That 'we're better than you' ideology is still in place, even now that the colonies are supposed to be considered independent entities. I mean, that's what the Eve Wars were fought on, wasn't it? The fact that the Alliance government on Earth was stepping all over the colonies' right? That's why you and I got up in our Gundams; that's why we became pilots. And we _won_, Wufei. So why aren't things changing? Because despite it all, the Earth is still making that impossible! I know Quatre would break the Winner business up into its different parts and make them all independent companies if he _could_, but that would be tantamount to a death sentence up here, because he's the one uniting everything and the one who understands everything. He's trying, but even with everything he's doing the gap between rich and poor up here is huge and it's getting bigger every single day. I mean, you've got billionaires running L-4 and then you've got the slums, which are fucking enormous. And a large part of that is due to the fact that the colony economies are stifled by the Earth. The people down there don't get it because for all the colonial diplomats that go down there or whatever, they _never_ come up _here_. They never see the reality that they're creating. They see Quatre Winner and his company and they think all colony businesses are like that, which is bull. The Earth's feeding itself a load of crap and encouraging the crap that's going on in the colonies.

"It's all going to blow up someday, Wufei -- but if I bring it to a head today, I guarantee you I'm going to save a whole lot of people a whole lot of suffering. This is the only way that the message is going to get through and change things. And, you know, I'm not looking to kill a lot of people or anything like that. We've all seen too much death already. I'm going to make this a quick and painless change for the better. And I have faith that I can actually do that, because I in turn am being guided by someone higher than myself -- higher than any of us, anyone in the world." Duo smiled, and leaned in closer. He seemed truly happy and to truly believe what he was saying. "You see how this all fits in, Wufei? Do you see it? Do you understand?"

Wufei shut his eyes. He thought about the deafening noise that had been in his head before he had lost consciousness. Had that really been God? Could he decipher words in that? It was like nothing he had ever experienced before or heard about from others.

"Yes. I understand. You've proved your point, Duo. I'm convinced."

_Just let him be right. Let it be quick and painless. Please…_

===========

RRRR. I should not be having this much trouble with the changes FFN's made to their upload system! Random characters aren't showing up, my scene breaks aren't showing up, and I have to figure out substitutes. Well. Hopefully I've got it worked out now.

Anyway! Wow! Sorry I always take so long everyone. (Should I say -- anyone still reading after I vanished for so long?) Look, I just want to say this: I'm not afraid of criticism, and I don't want readers to be afraid to criticize me and my writing. I would very much like to improve, and receiving criticism is one way that I can. I might not be able to promise to agree with your point of view, but I can and do promise not to throw a pissy fit if you tell me that you don't like my story/why you don't like it. I'll even defend you if anyone else tries to throw a pissy fit about what you have to say. (Hehe, in case you're wondering what brought this on, I paid a visit to the ever-infamous "fanfichate" a couple of weeks ago and realized that for certain writers this might not be something that goes without saying.)

Believe it or not, if my fic and my writing sucks, I'd like to know. Because I can't always tell.

Anyhoo, onto Ch. 9.


	9. Part Nine

Part Nine

Relena was sitting behind her desk when the gray-eyed woman burst into her office. Her eyes flew up from her paperwork only to meet with the barrel of a gun. She gasped, so surprised that for a moment she was completely unable to think.

"Ms. Dorlian," the woman stated, "get up from your chair and move to the side of your desk with your hands on your head. This is a _coup d'état_. If you do as I say, you will not be harmed, do you understand?"

"Wha-" Relena started to demand, but was cut off as the woman began repeating her previous statement more forcibly.

Relena's brain suddenly began to work again. There was a large panic button connected directly to the Preventers Headquarters on the underside of her desk. If she could just reach it, there would be agents swarming the building in under five minutes. If she could just reach it…

She slowly put her hands on the side of her desk, as if going to use it to push her chair back, but her fingers were scrabbling against the underside in search of the button.

"_Ms_. _Dorlian_!" the woman snapped, and fired her gun once. It was a warning shot, and the bullet went smashing harmlessly through the glass of the window behind Relena's head. "Place your hands on your head and get up from your chair!"

This time Relena gladly complied. She had no need to push the button now; the shot through the window would have precisely the same effect as if she had.

"Good. Now walk into the hall. Keep your hands on your head."

There were men and women outside, staring at her with odd, slightly amazed looks on their faces. The woman pointed to two of the men. "Take the Vice Foreign Minister outside," she said, and smiled at the two soldiers. Relena's heart froze with a sudden, understanding terror.

Each soldier took a tight hold of one of her arms and led her in that manner down the stairs and outside. One of them let go of her and she was spun to face him as the other one took a hold of her released arm. He smiled at her, and strangely it was not an unkind smile. Then he said to her, "Thank you, Ms. Dorlian, for your services to the world."

Relena had her mouth open, to ask him what he meant by that, and what he was going to do with her, but she never got the chance to say a word. With screeching tires, a large van appeared, and before it had even stopped Preventer agents were leaping out and had killed the two soldiers. "Vice Foreign Minister!" they called to her, gesturing her to their van as more vehicles arrived and more agents jumped out and began swarming towards the building.

Relena was unable to take her eyes away from the two dead young men as she was led gently away from them into safety. As the van she was shepherded into sped away from the scene, she continued watching out of its rear window, feeling suddenly helpless and utterly confused.

===

Wufei bolted upright. It was the second time that night that he had been woken up by dreams of the sickening roar and pain in his head from earlier that afternoon. Even thinking about it caused a dull ache to radiate across his skull -- but it was becoming increasingly clear that he was going to have to start thinking about it if he wanted it to leave him be.

He slumped backward and adjusted the pillow underneath his head. Then, finally, he allowed his mind to relax. Immediately afterwards, it returned to him -- the noise and the pressure in his skull. But, oddly, it was bearable this time; it lacked the overpowering intensity it had had when it was actually happening. Wufei wondered in the corner of his mind that remained his if that was because he was only thinking back on it, or if people could actually immune themselves to hearing some divine power's voice… But those thoughts soon vanished as Wufei realized that Duo was right, the longer he concentrated on the sound and tried to ignore its effects, he could almost hear the words in it. Yes, the message was resolving itself… Almost -- he could almost recognize it --

_…Warrior… Lead the people._

…You will be…

…Warrior… Lead the people.

…You will…my great warrior…

"_Enough_," Wufei gasped aloud to himself; he didn't want to hear anymore. Warrior -- lead the people -- hadn't he already done that; wasn't that what his job at the Preventers was all about? Wufei wiped away the sweat from his forehead and tried to control the trembling in his limbs. He didn't want to lead anybody anymore; he just wanted to be left to himself, to live a comfortable life together with Sally.

_Sally._ Just thinking about her spurred a wave of loneliness and melancholy. He wanted to see her again, if only to explain to her why he was hurting her; if only to say goodbye to her once and for all. _I wonder if she'll understand._ Wufei was unsure -- she had always seemed to grasp his actions so clearly, but this…he just didn't know.

Surely one phone call wouldn't hurt.

Wufei sat up and took in his surroundings. He was lying on one of the mattresses in the Laundromat's basement; Duo's own mattress was next to his, and his friend was sleeping soundly beside him. The other makeshift beds, which had all been empty before, were now almost all filled with sleeping bodies; there must have been at least fifty people asleep, and in the dimly-lit corners of the room other people were still clustered, talking in low voices. It was incredible -- where had all these people come from in so short a time? Were the people of the colonies really so resentful towards the Earth as all that, when such a short time ago they had been on such good relations?

Wufei leaned over Duo and shook him awake, noticing as he did so that while he had been asleep someone had taken care of his hurt shoulder. "I need to make a call," he whispered urgently when Duo grunted to show his awareness.

"Upstairs," Duo mumbled into his pillow as he rolled away from Wufei's hand. "Outside. Payphone. Don't say anything stupid."

"Thanks." Wufei hurried up the steps. Instead of the balding man, a sleepy-looking teenager sat behind the counter now staring blankly at small television set he had set up to keep him occupied. Wufei ignored both him and the few late-night occupants and hurried outside to the payphone. Luckily, he did have his wallet with him, and a small amount of money he could make the call with.

The phone rang twice before Sally picked up with an exhausted, "Hello? Une?"

"No. Sally… It's me."

There was a long pause during which Wufei held his breath before Sally asked, her voice high-pitched and trembling as if she were holding back tears, "Wufei?" And then, gathering strength as she drew herself back together, "Wufei! Where are you? What's going on?!"

"I…can't tell you that. I'm sorry, Sally. Um, Sally, I -- I may not be coming back. I have to call off the wedding."

"What?" Sally asked sounding utterly confused, but there was a growing suspicion and anger in her voice. "I don't understand. Why have you stopped trusting me? Is… Is what Noin says about you true? Are you there with Duo, Wufei?"

"I can't talk about this Sally! Please."

But she was relentless now in her demands. "Why did you abandon Relena? Were you in on it -- _how much of this did you plan_,_ Wufei_?"

As she continued her assault, Wufei shouted what he had to say over her voice: "I love you Sally -- I love you, you know that, don't you? Tell me you know that I love you…"

All sound ceased on the other end of the line. Then came Sally's horribly calm voice saying, "You have a funny way of showing it," which left Wufei speechless until the click in his ear told him that she had hung up on him.

He stayed in the booth for a long time after the dial tone had started buzzing in his ear, just standing with the phone in his hand and slumped against the clear plastic window. It seemed that there was no hope for them, then. Even if he were to go back, it seemed unlikely that Sally would want him now; she thought he didn't trust her. And he had given her reason to think that way, hadn't he? He had lied to her, had even used her. He had screwed things up to the point that there would be no use going back anymore, even if he could now that he had taken Duo's side of the war.

Why did he have to keep losing everything he cared about in these wars? Every_one_ he cared about?

Someone knocked on the door of the booth, and Wufei jerked to attention, spinning around to face the person. It was Duo. Wufei's heartrate slowed, and he hung up the phone and opened the door. "What do you want?" he asked nastily.

"You okay?"

"Yes," Wufei answered curtly, shoving his way past Duo and moving back towards the Laundromat.

"Did you call Sally?"

Wufei stopped, sighed impatiently. "_Yes_."

"And…? Did she accuse you of betraying her?"

"Not in so many words, no. Why are you asking me these questions?"

Duo ignored him. "Are you two…finished?"

Wufei swallowed, but managed to growl out, "Yes. We are."

Duo walked up beside him and offered a comforting pat on the back. "Well, at least you two weren't married yet. There are fewer complications this way."

"Nothing to regret having done," Wufei agreed, relieved he had always kept his self control. Now Sally could move on, find someone else… Wufei became so wrapped up in that thought that for a minute he didn't realize that Duo was still talking to him, his serious tone gone and replaced with a teasing twinkle in his eye. Apparently something in his tone had let on that he hadn't meant the marriage itself.

"Wait -- wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me that you and Sally never --" Duo wiggled his hips suggestively to illustrate his point, and Wufei turned away in disgust, not bothering to answer. "You were gonna get _married_ and you _never_ -"

"Will you shut up?!" Wufei yelled. "I told you, at least this way she won't have anything to regret."

"Yeah," Duo said, serious again. "Either that or she'll think you never loved her. I mean, Hilde and I never came close to marriage…and I guess we're probably about as finished as you and Sally are now…but at least she knows how I felt about her, has something to remember, y'know?"

"There are plenty of other things to remember about a relationship, okay? Now drop it, Duo, before you go too far." There was something else about his conversation with Sally that was nagging at his mind. What was it? -- Wufei spun around to face Duo and demanded in an accusing rush, "Did something happen today? On Earth?"

Duo nodded, a little guiltily. "Yeah. We weren't going to lead an attack on the Earth for a while, but as things have gotten complicated, we've had to shuffle our plans a bit. Middie's down there now with our very best. Actually, we should be hearing from them very soon, to find out how it's going."

"And the target was Relena?"

"Wufei, I told you, I want to kill as few people as possible. Relena may be one of the most important politicians the Earth has, but she's _definitely_ not a soldier. Our aim is to capture the building and anything useful it has inside. That will give us a lead on Earth, not to mention show everyone that we mean business!"

"Exactly how many people are in on this venture, anyway?" If there were enough people on Earth to take over its single most important government building and enough on the colonies to successfully defend themselves from Heero and Noin, it would have to be _quite_ a lot.

"About five hundred so far. Enough for a small army. Enough to win, if we're clever about it."

"You've found five _hundred_ people in two months -- in just _one_ colony?"

"More than one colony," Duo corrected. "It took a little while before I was able to get to L-3."

"That's incredible," Wufei murmured, dumbfounded. So the people of the colonies really felt such animosity towards the Earth. Certainly, only the more radical among them would support a war, but with a backing of moderates also feeling resentful there would probably be enough power to deal a serious blow to the Earth, if not to succeed in a full _coup d'état_.

"It's not so amazing as all that, Wufei. You just haven't been living here the past several years. Now come on, I want to be there when our guys clock in."

Wufei followed Duo back inside, still feeling a little lost and overwhelmed by it all. As they descended back into the basement, a cry came up from a huddled group, and they were both pulled over into the cluster. Everyone was centered around the rather bulky radio Wufei had been examining earlier, and he understood immediately that it must be the group on Earth checking in.

"Well?" Duo demanded as soon as he got there, eyes bright with excitement.

There was a crackle, and then a male voice responded proudly, "We did it, Duo."

A muffled, celebratory whoop went up. Duo beamed. "Excellent!" he exclaimed, and allowed everyone to bask in their moment of glory for a minute longer before turning to more serious matters. "Casualties?" he asked.

"Five, sir," the voice on the other end of the line replied, his tone turned somber. "And one person captured. Middie."

"Damn," Duo swore as everyone else in the room fell silent. "Still, it could have been worse; after all, she knows what to do. You all can hold the building without her?"

"Oh, absolutely!"

"Great. Send all the information you can find, and keep us up to date."

"You can count on us, Duo! Signing off."

"Signing off," Duo echoed, then looked round at everybody. "We're on our way," he told them.

===

Sally's hand was shaking as she put down the phone.

She sank down onto the couch, struggling to get back in control of herself. Weakly, she dropped her head to her hands and began to massage her temples. It had been such a trying day -- how could Wufei have had the nerve to telephone her like that?

"The insane, reckless, bastard," she whispered to herself, but without any enthusiasm. "Coward. Liar." God -- why couldn't saying the words aloud make her believe them? Her breath hitched on its way into her lungs. Sally held it and squeezed her eyes shut, forcing back the threatening tears. She would not cry for him; no, she _wouldn't_! Wufei was nothing to her now, he was just a soldier on the wrong side of a war…worse, he was one of the instigators of the war. He was a threat to peace, to the world's stability. _He has to be stopped._

Somehow, the conviction just wasn't there. There was confusion, there was hurt and a sense of betrayal, but Sally somehow couldn't kindle her anger against Wufei. She was still reeling from the shock of having misunderstood him so badly.

They had met just over seven years ago, and from the beginning Sally had felt a special connection to the young Chinese pilot. She had trusted him instinctively, admired him, worried about him. But now it seemed that the special understanding she had believed they shared was nonexistent after all. For the life of her, Sally just could not see what had lured Wufei away from peace. Didn't he know what he was doing? Didn't he realize that he was methodically destroying everything he had worked so hard to achieve?

Couldn't he have _explained_ things to her? He had got down on his knees to ask her to marry him, couldn't he have explained now why he was leaving her? Couldn't he have at least asked her to come along? Had he always had so little faith in her?

"This is not the track to go down, Sally," she tried to warn herself. She had a job to do, and right now that consisted of restoring the promise of peace to the world. That was what it had always consisted of: that was what she believed in. That was, she knew regretfully, why Wufei had not asked her to join him, because he had known what her answer would be. Just as she knew that she could no longer convince him to return to her. They were both fighting for their beliefs, and they were both too damn stubborn and unyielding to give them up for the other. Knowing that didn't lessen the sting of Wufei's flight, but it did choke down any of Sally's possible anger and force her to recognize her continuing respect.

The telephone rang again, shrilly. Sally jumped, startled, and then pounced on it, terrified and yet blindly hoping that it would be him again. It wasn't.

"Sally?" Une's voice rapped out.

"Yes," she sighed.

"Sally -- we're ready to begin questioning. If you would please join us, we'll begin as soon as you've arrived." Une was understandably terse, and Sally could tell from the sound of her voice that she was not going to be particularly pleasant to be around that day.

"Um…yes. I'll be there as soon as I can. Une…" She hesitated, not wanting to admit what she knew, but knowing it had to be done. Whatever feelings she might have once had for Wufei had no place here; they had to be forced aside somehow. "…I just received a call from Wufei."

Une's voice fairly crackled with intensity as she prompted, "And?!"

"Noin was right. He's gone."

"Damn," Une growled, then sighed heavily. "_Damn_. We've got to get him back, he'll be invaluable to the rebels. He's been with us for years, he knows --" Une cut herself off. "I can't think about that right now. Get over here now. We're going to begin the interrogation."

Sally did not waste time. She had been sent home to get a few hours rest, but she had never even gotten around to changing out of her uniform. Now, she simply walked back out the door and began driving to the Preventers HQ. Arriving, she marched straight into the underbelly of the building, where the holding cells and interrogation rooms were; Une met her there with a steaming cup of coffee, which Sally gratefully accepted, and they went together to meet Middie Une.

She was there, seated serenely at the table with her hands folded as though she was unaware of the fact that she was wearing handcuffs. Une dismissed the guard by the door, and he respectfully dipped his head and went outside to wait for them to finish. Sally went to seat herself across from the captive; Une remained standing, pacing agitatedly back and forth in front of the door. Sally reached out and pressed the record button on the tape recorder set on the table, but the silence continued for several moments longer. Middie remained still, apparently unfazed. Finally, she shook her head, tossing a stray lock of blonde hair back over her shoulder. Une spoke.

"You told us last night that your name was Middie Une. I presume this is correct?"

"I have no reason to lie."

"You were leading the attack on the Vice Foreign Minister's office."

"I was."

"What was the purpose of this unprovoked attack?"

"I would not call it unprovoked. It is a culmination of the past six years of false promises and deceit practiced by the people and government of the Earth. The colonies will not, and should not have to, stand it any longer. This is our declaration of war."

"The name of your leader is Duo Maxwell, is it not?"

A smile twitched at the corner of Middie's mouth. "That is the name of our commander…but I would not say he was our leader. We act on orders from a much higher authority."

"Who?!" Une slammed her fists down on the table and glared at Middie, but the young woman only stared back at her calmly.

She replied composedly, "God himself."

Sally interjected, "If we were to tell you that Duo Maxwell does not communicate with any god, but instead suffers from a debilitating mental illness, what would your reaction be?"

Middie's eyes shifted to her and she said, "I would know that you were either a liar or a fool. It wouldn't surprise me if you were both."

That was the last thing that they could get out of Middie that morning, and when Une came out with Sally, she looked even grimmer than she had when they had gone in. She looked down at her watch and sighed again. "I have a press conference in half an hour and nothing encouraging to pass on…"

"Not _nothing_," Sally protested feebly.

"The colonial diplomats claim they had no knowledge of the attack. That's it, and it doesn't mean anything. They did not acknowledge the Gundam attacks in the Eve Wars either, and during those months there were still extremely destructive battles fought. The facts are that we were unable to prevent an attack on one of the most important government buildings in the world, have been failing to capture the leader of the attack for months, and one of our top agents -- whom we should have been watching more carefully on account of his past behavior in connection to this rebel group -- has betrayed us to them."

"Relena was not killed," Sally pointed out. "None of our government officials were. All the rebels have is a building -- they don't have hostages; they don't have control. We have the upper hand by far. We have agents already in the location that Duo and his group were last seen, and we have ordered all transportation to and from the colony stopped. And Heero Yuy has returned, on _our_ side. It's only a matter of time, really, before we find them and put the rebellion down."

"Unless they have something we don't know about. Which I highly suspect they do. Besides which, let's not forget who it is we're dealing with, Sally. We may have Heero on our side, but Duo and Wufei are both highly, highly skilled. If anyone can get past us, it will be them, won't it?"

Sally swallowed against the sudden lump building in her throat. "We'll see," she managed to say around it. "We'll just have to see."

===========

There are a few more chapters being edited at the moment, but I'm leaving for college in a week so I don't know when I'll be finished with them. I'll try not to let myself fall back into the pattern of vanishing for months on end, though…

Comments and criticism are always appreciated -- thanks for reading!


	10. Part Ten

_[A/N: I am in the middle of a hatefest against FFN right now. I hate having to use this stupid, ugly horizontal line thing to separate my scenes, especially because it doesn't appear in my word processor just in their stupid editing machine, but they've taken away all the **proper** methods of indicating scene/time breaks and have ignored my suggestion that they at least permit the use of asterisks. Stupid stupid stupid, **grrrrrrr**. Okay, just had to get that off my chest. Here's another two chapters -- but just so you know, there may not be another for a while as I've just gotten to college and must somehow find a way to settle in and forge a social life and whatnot. Right, enough whining, here's the fic.]_

Part Ten

Une ascended the platform in the Preventers' conference room to the steady flash of camera bulbs and a slowly descending hush. Relena followed behind her calmly, while Sally and Zechs remained in the back of the room, watching over the proceedings. Taking her place behind the podium, Une quietly cleared her throat before beginning. "Yesterday afternoon, at approximately 12:30, the offices of Vice Foreign Minister Dorlian were invaded by a terrorist force hailing from the L-2 colony cluster. The Vice Foreign Minister and all other government officials in the building were successfully rescued and temporary arrangements have been made for them here in the Preventers' headquarters until more suitable accommodations can be made to ensure both their convenience and continued safety. We took one prisoner; however, the building itself remains in the hands of the revolutionaries. Naturally, we are doing all we can to recover it as quickly as possible, and we anticipate results soon, as the rebel force appears too small to hold out against us for long. Colonial officials assure us that the actions of this minority group are in no way affiliated with or connected to the colonial governments, and we are assured their cooperation in every respect possible to aid in the apprehension of this group. Once again, the colonies condemn the actions of these individuals. Are there any questions?"

There was an uproar of voices before one question rang out clearly, "Commander, exactly how dangerous is this group? Should we, for example, expect another attack, perhaps on civilians?"

"At this point, we have found no information indicating that another attack is imminent."

"Did you have information hinting at _this_ attack?" an accusatory voice demanded from the crowd.

Une raised her chin sharply. "Any intelligence gathered by Preventer officers is strictly for Preventer and law enforcement officials' knowledge unless it necessary for the public to know for its own well-being."

"Does this have anything to do with former Pilots 02 and 05?!"

"Once again, that information is on a strictly need-to-know basis." A rumble of protest followed the statement, a flurry of reporters continuing to demand things like, "Is it true that they're behind the attacks?" "Has Pilot 05 really betrayed the Organization?" "Does the enemy have access to your information?" and "What's being done to bring the pilots to book?" Une remained silent until the storm had ceased, then promised, "When more information on the subject is known it will be released to the public."

"When do you expect this incident will be resolved?"

"It's difficult to say. Naturally, we have high hopes."

"What about the prisoner?"

"The prisoner is currently in our holding cells; we are interrogating her every hour, and we are encouraged by our results so far. As I said before, if new information emerges it will be shared with the public on a need-to-know basis. Now if you'll please excuse me, Vice Foreign Minister Dorlian has some remarks and I must get back to work."

Une stepped down to an annoyed buzz, which quickly subsided as Relena stepped up to the microphone, enabling Une to beat a safe retreat out of the room. As expected, Relena's speech emphasized the continued need for communication between the Earth and the colonies. She stated firmly, "We _cannot_ allow this isolated incident to cause an unbridgeable gap between us -- to do so would be sure to provoke animosity where previously there was none!" However, it was plain to see on the faces of all the newscasters as they left the conference that the official word had done little to reassure them.

By the next day, Une had been forced to release most of the information she had. Everyone now knew that the group behind the attack on the Vice Foreign Minister's offices was led by Duo Maxwell, the crazy Gundam pilot who had escaped a mental hospital; and that Chang Wufei, who had aided Duo in that escape, had now betrayed the Prevention Organization in order to further aid Duo in his plans for what looked like war.

The news had the effect of a bombshell. Serious doubts were suddenly cast on the Preventers' ability to handle the situation. In many areas, the panic that Une had hoped to avoid by withholding certain information broke out with riots and wild protests in city streets. Exaggerations of the revolutionaries' attack flew, even in the most respectable newspapers and television programs. Rumors abounded about the true intentions of the rebels and whether or not a new war had in fact already started without the public's knowledge. Despite governmental attempts to keep things orderly and in perspective, the public's faith was, if not shattered by the recent attack and betrayal, certainly stretched to the tearing point.

On the afternoon of August 30, three days after Une's initial conference, Quatre Raberba Winner flew to Earth and issued his own statement there, and though the words were addressed to the rebels, his presence on Earth was clearly a statement of unity. Looking very dignified and every inch the gentleman in his dark business suit, he made his appeal staring straight into camera focused on his face. "To my dear friends, Duo and Wufei, please don't do this. We Gundam pilots fought together for two years to achieve this peace -- and I beg you not to destroy what we have all worked so hard for, what we bled and cried for. Whatever your qualms are, we have made progress over these past years; and there are peaceful methods to achieve your goals -- we will listen to you. We will work with you. Let us help you. My friends, my comrades, let us work together once again. Don't do this. Don't fight this war. There are better ways. Duo -- Wufei -- peace."

Mr. Winner's voice shook with emotion on his last word and he was forced to drop his gaze to gather himself. His unique address was faithfully recorded and reiterated by hundreds of journalists and anchorpeople that night and for many days after. Questions were hurled at him as he stepped down from the stage, demanding to know if his support truly lay with the existing Earth government… If the other former pilots could be trusted or if they ought to be locked away for safety's sake… If his voice truly represented the minds of all the colonies or if once again they would be divided by war. Having already said all that he wished to, Mr. Winner's answers were curt and direct. He had left the building within fifteen minutes of his arrival.

* * *

After watching the broadcast for the first time, Duo fell into a fit of abject depression. For several days, whenever Wufei tried to talk him out of it, he was completely unresponsive. Then, finally, one morning he appeared before his troops with a smile on his face. "Well boys," he announced, rubbing his hands together, "I think it's time we sent out our own spin on things, don't you?" For a few seconds all that greeted Duo's proposition were blank stares, until realization settled in and excitement began to shine in everyone's eyes.

Duo in particular threw himself into the project with fervor; it was, after all, his face that was to appear on the tape. He worked for hours, carefully preparing and tailoring his speech. He began by stating the fact of his divine backing. He then sent his assurances to the people of Earth that it was not his intention to pit the colonies against them, that his only problem was with the government. His aim, he freely let the world know, was to bring just men and women into power as replacements for those who did not deserve to be there. He stated calmly that his hope was to accomplish his goals with as little bloodshed as possible. He encouraged all people to join his cause, as surely that would bring about the change more swiftly. He made no mention of any future plans of attack.

The videotape was dropped off at a local television station as soon as Duo was satisfied with it, and by the evening it was everywhere. With high spirits, Duo was bringing his movement out from underground. The next week he began holding rallies in L-2. The turnout to the first one was nothing special, but at the second the crowd was enormous, and continued to grow at all subsequent meetings. Duo confided in Wufei that he believed part of the turnout was due to the fact that L-2 was the poorest of the colony clusters, but he was flying high with the encouragement. And all the while, the team on Earth was solidifying their place in the Vice Foreign Minister's offices, and had already completely overhauled the computer systems to be inaccessible from the outside. The government building had become a fortress under siege.

* * *

Mariemaia waited until she could no longer hear the shouts and laughter of the other children before she stood up and brushed the dirt off of her uniform. School had always been terrible to her, especially since Une had made the decision to send her to the Strasbourg International School, a private institution that catered to the children of almost all of the world's political figures. But these last few days had been particularly unbearable; ever since word had leaked out that Duo and Wufei had been behind the attack on the Vice Foreign Minister's building, the children, and to some extent the faculty members as well, had begun treating her as if she were the cause of the conflict. It had begun with an even stricter isolation than was usually imposed on her thanks to her attempted _coup_ six years ago. Mariemaia took that in stride; her pride had made her immune to that sort of thing long ago. But then it had escalated into small acts of violence, and today had been the worst by far.

Mariemaia twisted her arm around to examine a small, painful bruise from a pebble that one of the boys had thrown at her. She wasn't going to put up with it any more. She couldn't very well take revenge, but she certainly wasn't going to stick around to be their scapegoat. _Father would never approve of me if I did that_, she told herself. Wufei, the only relic she still had of her old life, certainly wouldn't either.

She did so want to know how he was getting on.

As she got up and started across the schoolyard to the road beyond, the thought occurred to her that the only person who might be able to tell her was in the Preventers Headquarters, locked away and unable to leave. A flare of excitement started to burn in Mariemaia's chest -- Middie Une could answer her questions about the rebellion! Mariemaia began to walk much more quickly in her eagerness to reach her destination.

When she finally arrived, she knew exactly where she wanted to go. Mariemaia had been in the Preventers Headquarters enough times to know her way around perfectly, and she quickly made her way down to the restricted access part of the building. She had only rarely been there without Une, but often enough to know some tricks for getting in without being caught by the active guard. Sneaking in was trickier than usual with the extra precautions being taken in case a full-scale war was to break out, but Mariemaia still managed it.

But when a few minutes had passed and she was still wandering along the halls without finding the cell she was looking for, Mariemaia began to get a little nervous that she might never find Middie. Then, a few doors down from where she was standing, a cell door suddenly swung open. Panicked, Mariemaia looked around for somewhere to hide. Of course, there was nowhere, and before she knew it Sally Po had strode out into the hall and was staring straight down at her. The exhaustion evident on her face was momentarily erased by surprise, but Mariemaia had begun to relax -- after all, it was only Sally.

"Does Une know you're down here?"

Mariemaia sniffed disdainfully before declaring, "I wanted to see Middie."

"Oh, you do, do you?" Sally actually laughed out loud, but quickly stopped when she saw that despite Mariemaia's act her desire was more fervent than just some childish need to gawk. She looked torn for a second, then sighed and said, "Well, come on then. I don't suppose it can do any harm…all she's done is sit there for the past ten days. But when you're through it's straight upstairs to talk to the Commander about your not being in school."

Mariemaia was caught off-guard by Sally's generosity, and though she had really only wanted to see Middie alone, she accepted the offer and shyly stepped inside the cell with Sally. Middie sat on the plastic bench built into the opposite wall, doggedly staring at the blank wall in front of her.

Mariemaia knew she couldn't give away the slight bit of loyalty she felt for the rebellion since Wufei had joined it in front of Sally, but at least now that she knew where Middie was being kept she would be able to return in secret more easily. Rather than asking the questions she had come with, she instead attempted to strike up a conversation with a tentative hello. Middie was unresponsive; she didn't even glance over at Mariemaia, let alone reply. Nothing else happened for the remainder of the brief visit, and after a few minutes of silence, Sally led Mariemaia firmly back outside and upstairs to Une's office.

"Preventer Wind and I are supposed to meet with Une in a few minutes, but you'd better go in first, I think," Sally said, and although there was humor in her voice her eyes betrayed her tenseness.

Paul, Une's current aide, told them that they'd have to wait a few minutes as Une was currently in the middle of some rather urgent phone calls. Mariemaia contented herself with examining the dirt stains on her white stockings until she was called in; she didn't really feel like talking with Sally much -- despite the woman's good intentions and friendly overtures towards her, every time Mariemaia had seen her together with Wufei and watched their relationship advance, she had always felt a childish surge of jealousy as though Sally was touching something cherished that belonged to her without permission.

When Mariemaia was finally allowed into her guardian's office, she discovered her bent double over her desk, her face cradled in her hands. "…Une?" Mariemaia queried tentatively, "Are you…all right?"

Obviously startled, Une lurched to her feet. She frowned when she saw Mariemaia, and immediately demanded of her, "Why aren't you in school?"

Mariemaia bit her lip at the accusatory tone and for a long moment did not say anything, only stood with her head bowed and rubbing the back of her left calf with the opposite foot. When she did finally look up and answer it was with a determined look shining in her eye. "I'm skipping," she said simply. "I'm not going back to school."

Une stared at her with an amazed look on her face before sitting down again, laughing and saying, "I beg your pardon, young lady, but you most certainly are."

Mariemaia stood up a little straighter, indignant. "No. I'm not. You don't know how they treat me there so I suppose you don't understand, but I'm not going to be their scapegoat any longer just because of who I am. I'm sick of it!"

Une's eyes narrowed a bit and she sighed. "Mariemaia, this is no time to be difficult. Now please go outside and tell Paul to drive you back to school."

"No! I've just told you, I'm not going back to that school!"

"Stop whining," Une ordered her sharply. "I do not have time for this right now. We'll discuss it later if you like, but you _are_ going back to school, so stop behaving like a spoiled child and go ask Paul to drive you!"

Mariemaia's breath started coming in short, rapid gasps as, for the first time in years, she put up a full-blown fight against Une's authority. "No!" she yelled. "You don't know how they treat me there -- they were _throwing_ things at me! I _won't_ go back there."

Une slammed her hand against the desk with a loud bang before she caught hold of her temper. Forcing herself to speak calmly she said, "Mariemaia, please. Stop exaggerating --"

"They think it's _my_ fault this war is happening."

Une leapt to her feet once more. "May I remind you that we are not yet at war!" she shouted, pushed too far. Then, ashamed, she again forced herself to calm down. "Now then," she sighed, "you're simply at an age where children mistreat each other, but you'll all grow up eventually. Until then I promise you there's nothing to be done except stomach it as best you can, all right?"

"You're not even listening to me!" Mariemaia cried, then without even realizing she was saying them words kept tumbling out of her mouth: "Everyone keeps treating me like I'm still Dekim Barton's granddaughter even though that's all I've been trying to leave behind for six years. Well if Grandpa was the only person who ever cared about me enough to look after me maybe that's who I should be again after all!"

Une's mouth fell open in utter shock at Mariemaia's words, and Mariemaia herself seemed just as surprised by them. Panting and blushing hotly, she quickly dropped her head again to stare at her shoes, her hair falling forward to mask her expression. Speaking gently now, Une told her, "There is a host of people here who care about you for who you are now, not what you were made to do as a child. Your grandfather only took you in because you were the daughter of a powerful man --"

Mariemaia didn't let her finish what she had to say before spinning around and running out of the room. Une followed her as far as the door to her office, then charged Paul with the task of going after her and taking her back to school. Zechs and Sally were standing waiting for her, and Une gestured for them to come in.

She waited until they were both seated in front of her before preparing, taking a deep breath and saying, "I have just been speaking with the President, and he has demanded that we have noticeable gains against the rebels within twenty-four hours." The question raged for a moment in Une's mind as to whether or not she ought to divulge the rest of the call -- in particular his ultimatum that she defeat the rebels quickly or risk replacement as the head of the Preventers -- but in the end, she decided that this particular conference was not the place for such a confession.

Instead, Une continued, "As you both know, over the past few days the situation has taken a very serious and unexpected turn for the worse. The L-2 colonists are supporting the rebels in increasing numbers and the colony officials are having a very difficult time controlling the citizens, especially at these rallies that the rebels have been holding. In fact, they've been so inefficient at everything we've asked of them I have my doubts about whether they're even _trying_ to do anything. Agent Fire and Pilot 01 have been sent out with a task force to try and locate the rebels' base of operations themselves and bring the situation under control. I've instructed them to do whatever is necessary." The cool tone to Une's voice left no doubt that she was deadly serious.

"The time has come for us to take the offensive. We must end this now before things get even further out of hand. We have been attempting to regain the Vice Foreign Minister's offices for almost two weeks without success. I want you to bomb the building." There was a time, not so very many years ago, Une reflected almost longingly, when she could have made such a decision without feeling a shred of the guilt she did now.

"Are you --"

"Of course I'm sure," she brusquely interrupted Sally's question. "Blow it up."

"The people inside…" Zechs murmured.

"Will die if they refuse to come out and surrender. I know." Une went to get something from a file cabinet across the room. "These are the blueprints of the building," she said, spreading the papers over the desk. "Until this point we have been focusing on using strength and numbers to force our way inside, but the rebels have a good defense. So we're going to have to be a little sneakier. As you know, we've been unable to determine the exact number of rebels stationed in the building -- my best guess is between twenty and forty, which should mean that once we get inside it will be relatively easy for you to take the building."

"Une, these are war measures you're talking about," Sally interrupted. "I've got to protest."

Une clasped her hands together to disguise the slight tremble to them and, no longer quite able to meet her colleagues' eyes, dropped her gaze to the prints on her desk. "Save as many people as you can but I want that building destroyed." Briskly, she raised her face again and explained, "I know it's harsh, but unfortunately it's necessary. The longer those rebels stay in there, the more hope the revolutionaries have and the less faith the public has in _us_. Besides…they knew they were signing on for a dangerous job when they chose to try and start a war. They've been trained as soldiers by a Gundam pilot, Sally, they're not innocents. This is the recourse they should expect for their actions."

"I know that. It's just that -- well -- it's Duo and Wufei is all."

Une softened for a moment. "I'm not saying it won't be difficult. It will be, for all of us. But Sally, you can't let personal feelings get in the way of this fight. Now can you do this or not?"

"Of course I can!" she snapped, offended.

"Good." Une tapped the blueprints with her index finger. "You and Zechs will assemble two teams, small ones, between five and ten people each, and will try and enter via the service entry ports. Plant the explosives, and try to disable and capture anyone you come across. We'll issue a warning and a demand for surrender once you're out of the building -- but if they don't accept…" Une shrugged, signaling that she would do what she deemed necessary. "I want that building turned to rubble by tomorrow morning."


	11. Part Eleven

_[A/N: I know the Duo/Wufei scene here is a little sketchy, but hopefully they'll get better again as the focus returns to them. Also, I doubt mentioned this on the initial warnings for this fic (although I think the text has hinted at it in the last couple of chapters) but there may be one death in this piece (ouch, I know, I just lost all remaining readers, lol). But just remember context and I think in the end it will be okay. Er, anyway, all comments, criticism, etc. is appreciated. Thanks for reading.]_

Part Eleven

The plan went through as Une ordered it. Even within the Strasbourg city limits, two miles away from the site of the explosions, flames could be seen glowing hot against the night sky. For the first time in years, smoke caused by battle obscured the stars.

Sally squinted out across the wreckage, fanning her face uselessly against the dry heat. "I wish it hadn't come to this," she murmured, glancing over at Zechs who stood beside her. His eyes were turned to the road, watching as the last armored truck drove away towards the Preventers' headquarters with a mix of captured rebels and the odd survivor of the bombing. Sally used his distraction to take the opportunity to blot a few stray tears from her eyes. "I'm going to join the search teams. Tell Une if she asks."

She had only gotten a few paces away before Zechs called her back. Sighing, she asked, "What is it?"

"I think we did the right thing."

Sally let her eyes wander back to where she wanted to join the rescue effort. _People are dead!_ she wanted to scream at him. But didn't. "I always fought with the belief that the end was in sight…but I'm not so sure now. It just keeps getting pushed further away every time we get close." Wufei, Duo, and the other Gundam pilots had time and again managed to guide her to the right path with their battles, but now two of the people she had trusted most in the world had turned their backs on her and what they had all believed in. How could what any of them were doing be the right thing now?

"As part of OZ I used to tell my men to fight for the soldiers of tomorrow," Zechs replied somberly to match her bitterness. "So that future generations would never even have need of soldiers. I still believe in that philosophy -- if we fight for what we know is right one day humanity will reach it. You and I might not live to see it, but it will be because of people like us that true peace will finally be achieved."

The words tugged back a distant memory of a distraught fifteen year old boy. _"Everyone has their own sense of justice, Wufei."_ Sally clenched her teeth. Maybe that was the problem. With so many different opinions in the world, could people force themselves to find the balance of true peace within a single world nation? She had to believe they could…even if she doubted it. She began walking towards the rubble again, muttering to herself, "If only they'd come out…"

* * *

Relena stormed to Une's office when she heard. Disregarding Paul and his protests that the Commander was in the middle of a conference call, the Vice Foreign Minister flung open the door, marched straight to the desk, and demanded, "How _dare_ you make a decision like this without even consulting me?!"

Une glanced up at her, then quietly made her apologies to whoever was on the other end of the telephone. Hanging up, she turned her attention back to Relena and said, "I was acting in accordance with the President's wishes."

"The President?" Relena sputtered, "What about the _colonies_?! You need to worry about _their_ wishes right now if you want to maintain peace! Don't you understand that we need to keep the loyalty of the colonists to suppress this rebellion?"

Une spoke softly but tersely: "Relena, this is the biggest threat to peace we've experienced in six years, perhaps the biggest ever. We've gone two weeks without any headway, and that's a good way to lose loyalty as well."

"I've just been to the medical wards and fifteen people are dead because of those bombs. The people of the colonies are going to see this as an underhanded move, which frankly I don't blame them for, and _they_'re the people you need to worry about right now! Why didn't you tell me what you were planning? I have a right to know -- more than that, it's _necessary_ for me to know these things."

"It had to be done," Une insisted.

"That's insane," Relena retorted. "It should have been discussed. I'm flying to the colonies tomorrow to address the people and the delegates of L-2 personally to try and clear up this mess."

"What?! Do you realize how dangerous that will be right now? Relena, I've got to protest, this is much too delicate a time --"

"Exactly! This is a delicate time! The people need to see a friendly face. I'm sorry, _Commander_, but my mind is made up. I don't believe anyone is trying to kill me, and hiding behind closed doors is no way to make a peace. You're more than welcome to join me if you feel there's a need for me to be accompanied, but I'm going whether _you_ do or not."

"There are times when you're _still_ no more mature than a teenager," Une sighed, but made no further move to convince Relena not to go. In fact, she went to inform Paul of her plans to take Relena up on her offer and accompany her on the trip.

"The people need to see a united front, Une," Relena said as she followed her out to the foyer. "Let's try and make sure we can preserve one."

Une forced a smile as she looked back to the Vice Foreign Minister. Then to Paul she said, "And if you can get in touch with Fire and 01, tell them to come to the meeting with the delegates as well. Hopefully they'll be a little more helpful in person than they've been over the phone."

Relena hovered in the doorway, having frozen there at Une's words. "01?" she echoed uncertainly, and Une shot her an appraising look.

"Yes. 01. I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable, Vice Foreign Minister, but having our agents present at the meeting will not only provide for your safety but hopefully give them a leg up in their search for the rebels. We know they're somewhere in L-2 but don't know precisely where."

The deliberate words broke Relena from her momentary spell; she blushed and nodded, embarrassed by her uncustomary lapse. "Do what you think is best. Excuse me, I'm going to get a few hours' sleep before the shuttle leaves."

"What time is departure?"

"Oh… If we leave here by 3 AM, we should be right on time. Excuse me; goodnight." Relena left hurriedly; Une shook her head and turned her thoughts back to her plans.

"Have you found them yet?" she asked of Paul, who nodded, and twisted the small video communicator so that Une could see the screen as well. After informing the two agents of the small change in their schedule, Une proceeded to contact the chief L-2 delegate, the man with whom she had been exchanging desperate conversations for the past several weeks, since the very beginning of the mess.

He was still a fairly young man, only in his early forties, with a disarming similarity to Relena's father, the previous Vice Foreign Minister, in his slightly lined face and closely-trimmed brown beard. "Hello Une," he said in faint surprise and clear concern, rubbing at his beard. "What's the cause of your contact at this time of day?"

"Good evening, Mr. Julian. I'm calling to let you know of my intention to accompany the Vice Foreign Minister on her trip to see you tomorrow. I also thought it would be the polite thing to inform you that two other Preventer agents will be joining the meeting."

"I see." The twitching fingers didn't leave Julian's chin, and though he didn't seem surprised by the news, he was clearly not pleased by it. "You don't seem to have much faith in our security, Commander."

"I simply feel that a personal visit may be the most effective route to gaining some of the information the Preventers need in this case," Une replied diplomatically. "We've been having some difficulties in that area recently. This is also my chance to assess the situation in the colonies personally, which is something I do not often get the chance to do these days."

"Indeed. Tied to the desk, eh?" Julian's frown did not quite match the humor in his voice. "It must be quite a change for you since the wars in 195."

"There have been a great many changes for me since that time. I hope you won't forget that."

"Certainly not!" Julian scoffed, his face finally breaking into a friendly smile. "I look forward to our meeting tomorrow, Commander. Do get some rest before then, won't you?"

"The same goes for you," Une replied, smiling as well, as they ended the call. Turning to Paul, she said, "I do think tomorrow will be quite interesting. Perhaps we'll finally be able to motivate the colonies to do their share in catching the rebels."

"Do you really think they're not doing all they can, Commander?" he asked respectfully. "They were the most concerned group when that Maxwell character first escaped, after all."

"Well, we shall certainly see tomorrow, won't we?" Une replied as she reached up to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Glancing at the wall clock, she added, "I'm going to follow Julian's advice and try and get some sleep before the shuttle is due to depart."

"I'll wake you at 2:30, ma'am."

* * *

Duo drew in a sharp breath as he watched the panning view on the television screen of the leaping flames and black smoke that were once the Vice Foreign Minister's offices. His voice was locked deep in his throat as he murmured, "God damn them, those sneaky bastards, how could they do this?"

From behind him, watching the same scene of destruction with remorse tightening his chest, Wufei answered sadly but honestly, "We pushed them to it. The logical thing would've been to destroy the building right away before we could have access to any of its information."

"That bitch Une, she's just the same as she always was," Duo replied, as if he hadn't heard what Wufei had had to say. He leaned in closer to the television, then flipped it off, erasing the picture from the screen. "She's gone too damn far. We're going to get her for this. I bet she's so proud of herself for taking down those colony citizens. Well not for long. It's time to take her down a notch."

* * *

Before settling down for her two-hour nap, Une had called and left a simple message for Mariemaia saying that as she was leaving for the colonies that morning she would not be home for a day or two. She didn't know whether Mariemaia would even bother listening to what she had to say; after all, Une had not managed to make it home for more than a few hours at a time the rest of the week either.

Now she and Relena were being shuttled quickly through space towards the L-2 colony cluster, due to arrive in approximately twelve more minutes. In the final arrangements for the trip, Une had demanded that the twelve colonial delegates meet them not on one of the colonies but in space itself, on a private shuttle. Relena insisted on going onto Colony U3462 to make her statement to the public, however, despite the security difficulties that would impose. She continued to insist that she did not feel threatened by the rebels and believed no one would try to harm her, and there was nothing Une could find to say to convince her otherwise.

The shuttle finally began to slow, and then halt as the delegates' shuttle appeared through the tiny window on Une's right. She placed a hand on Relena's wrist to gently wake her, saying, "We've arrived, Vice Foreign Minister." The same was announced moments later over the shuttle's intercom.

Relena opened her eyes and calmly began collecting her briefcase from the overhead compartment. Within a few minutes, she and Une had crossed the connecting tube into the L-2 representatives' shuttle, and were moving slowly around the circle of men, shaking hands and exchanging polite greetings. A few minutes later, the two other Preventer agents arrived.

Relena noticed them out of the corner of one eye as she finished her brief chat with the twelfth delegate, Representative Harrison, and turned quickly for a better look. _Why, he hasn't changed at all_, she realized as she watched Heero cross quietly to Une. He didn't spare her a glance, but Relena was hardly surprised; he never had before, after all. Still, even after six years there was something about him that made her heart speed up.

_I must be out of my mind_, she thought.

Clearing her throat, she said aloud, "Now that everyone has arrived, shall we move this meeting to the conference room?"

"An excellent idea, Vice Foreign Minister," Representative Julian replied. "There's certainly a great deal we have to discuss, and we cannot forget your public address later this afternoon. Do follow me, everyone, and have a seat. It's been quite a while, am I correct Vice Foreign Minister?, since your last trip to the colonies."

"I'm afraid it has been a long time," Relena admitted. "One of many things I'd like to apologize for today."

Being that they were on a shuttle, the meeting room was very small and plain, the table and chairs bolted to the floor from necessity. Relena took her place at the head of the table, Une and the delegates arranging themselves around her. Heero and Noin did not seat themselves but remained standing by the doors, as if not wanting to intrude. Relena smiled at them and gestured towards the extra chairs at the table, but only Noin accepted the offer.

Relena turned serious as she opened the meeting. "I'm sure you all would like to begin by discussing the bombing yesterday," she said, crossing her hands in front of her on the table. It was a subject she was uncomfortable with, not least because of its certain sensitivity.

"That's right, we would," Julian stated. "As you should know, Vice Foreign Minister, we all respect you very deeply here in the colonies, but frankly we cannot see why such an action like yesterday's slaughter was in the least bit necessary. And the fact that you took such actions without informing us is really quite offensive."

Without meaning to, Relena found herself looking at Une as those words were being said. Shaking herself back to her senses, she turned back to the colonial delegates, and apologized for the unwelcome stance. "What was done yesterday is very clearly a mistake. At the time the decision was made, it seemed the best course available, but the Earth government realizes in the face of this aftermath that the action was foolish and rash. We truly hope that this incident will not stand in the way of peace."

One of the delegates rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly and let out a nervous chuckle. "At this point, Vice Foreign Minister, it's not really peace with _us_ you have to worry about."

"I understand that the rebels are acting without your authority, if that's what you mean."

"No, no, it's not exactly that. You see, Miss Dorlian, it's become ever clearer over the past several days that we're not the voice of the colonies right now -- we're the voice of the colonies five years ago. Our elections are coming up in three weeks' time, and public opinion has suffered a radical change. My colleagues and I aren't the leaders of the majority anymore… we, uh, may be up for a rather dramatic defeat, in fact. If I may be frank, Vice Foreign Minister, it's becoming quite a struggle -- on my colony, U3425, at least -- to keep the peace. If we lose control of the L-2 cluster, you people on Earth may not be facing just a rebel insurgency but an official -- and fully legal -- declaration of war."

Relena felt her stomach and heart suddenly plummet in horror. "Are you serious?" she gasped faintly. "For heaven's sake, why didn't you tell us things were this bad? Une -- Une, did you have any _idea_…?"

"No, Vice Foreign Minister," Une replied, glaring around the room, "I was unaware."

"How on Earth did Duo Maxwell gain so much influence so quickly?" Relena demanded. "I don't understand. What do the colonists have against us so suddenly?"

The delegates looked as helpless as Relena herself felt.

She remained very quiet for the rest of the meeting, barely able to even listen as Une took over with her own agenda. The questions she was fielding, about why the colonies were not doing their share against the rebels -- making arrests and conducting searches for Duo Maxwell -- now seemed useless. The colonists were getting beyond the government's control. Relena was desperate now only to think of a way to avert war.

* * *

She had not planned on being the one to make the advance, but the meeting with the colonial delegates had so thrown her that she was desperate for a piece of Heero's determined stolidity. She approached him tentatively, drawing him aside as her group exited the delegates' shuttle. "Heero, do you… Do you think I should resign?"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Resign?" he repeated, apparently not understanding although Relena was certain he did.

"Yes. In the light of what the delegates told us about L-2's sentiments. Perhaps it would be best to…to capitulate and avoid war."

"You mean in another Queen of the World sort of move?"

"Well, no, not exactly. I would hardly be becoming the figurehead of the rebels, would I?"

"You didn't resign during Mariemaia's rebellion."

"Those were very different circumstances," Relena retorted. "For one thing, they had kidnapped me, if you recall. Where was I that I _could_ resign? For another, that rebellion did not come from the people, it came from one family's selfish desire to rule and conquer!"

Heero shrugged. "This rebellion is only coming from one group of people. There are other colonies. There are the people of the Earth. And those people don't believe in Duo Maxwell's fight. You'd be abandoning them if you chose to resign now."

Relena nodded. "Thank you, Heero," she murmured, "that was just what I needed to hear." She walked ahead of him to catch up with Une and Noin, thinking he would prefer being left to himself, unable to see the strange half-frown he wore as he watched her go.

The shuttle ride to the colony was brief, a little less than half an hour. Relena did not see Une during that time; the woman remained in the rear of the shuttle, where she was radioing back to the Preventers headquarters. But she walked protectively beside Relena on the route to the hall where she was set to make her speech. Crowds had gathered to watch and listen, and Relena was well aware of the looks that the people gave her and Une. She wanted to stop and address the people then and there, wanted to talk to that gray-haired woman or that little boy and listen to what they had to say, but with Une at her elbow it was difficult to do anything but move steadily forward.

In the end, it felt as though Relena had been moved to the stage and the podium without taking a single step of her own accord. She stared out at the sea of people in front of her, and opened her mouth to address them with the opening words of the speech she had prepared last night. But nothing came out. It was almost laughable -- she couldn't bring herself to say the words. A small ripple of confusion ran through the room.

"I don't know what to say," she admitted suddenly with an embarrassed laugh. "Everything I wrote for today seems so meaningless now that I'm standing here." She could see the people looking back and forth at each other, some amused at her paralysis, others seeming strangely hurt and offended by it. "Today," she continued hesitantly, "Today I was told that the people of L-2 are looking for a new future. This was the first time that I understood that the acts of a small number of people represented the hearts of many more -- that the _coup d'état_ that a woman sitting the Preventers' prison threatened me with could become a reality."

Suddenly, from outside, the loud, low boom of an explosion shook the hall. Relena was knocked sideways, but grabbed onto the podium to steady herself, determined to continue. As pandemonium began to break out before her, she shouted, "But I don't understand why the path the colony is choosing is one of violence!" The microphone screamed in protest at the close range the words had been yelled, and for a moment silence fell again as attention was thrust back towards her.

Heero and Noin ran outside to investigate, Relena could see them weaving their way through the crowd and was relieved. Her words weren't meant for them, they were for the colonists. Une came forward and tried to pull her away. But Relena wouldn't budge. She couldn't stop now, even if no one was listening, even if the rebels were attacking. She had always said she'd die for peace.

"I understand the desire for a new direction -- I know that the Earth has oppressed the colonies in the past. And I know that in these past few years since the wars have ended that we on the Earth have made mistakes! But we've done _good_, too! The colonies have never had more independence than they do today --" Another echoing rumble from outside. Relena continued. "Two hundred years ago they were launched as extensions of power for the nations on Earth. And as the nations dissolved and the Alliance and then OZ took over, the colonies' subservient role was preserved and perfected until the Gundams, and even the White Fang, fought to free you. Now you are left to manage your own affairs, and I am the sole Earth representative whose job directly involves the colonies. And so I don't understand what you're fighting for.

"My father often brought me to the colonies with him, and I was always struck by how peace-oriented the colonists were. This fight contradicts all reason! No one has presented me with a reasonable excuse for this rebellion. We are willing to change, we are willing to listen -- I don't even know what your complaints are! For six years, in conjunction with your governments I have been trying to help you rebuild and give guidance when you needed it to help you recreate yourselves, to fulfill your goals and dreams. But now it seems as though your only dream is to destroy everything we've both worked so hard for! Why don't you stop this senselessness before it's too late? Why are you listening to the propaganda that Duo Maxwell is trying to sell you? It is not impossible to resolve your concerns peacefully -- but how would you know without trying? Fighting will only bring about more fighting, isn't this a lesson we have learned already?"

Relena was aware that her reasoning was flying all over the place as she tried to cram all her thoughts together and hold the attention of the people even as they panicked in the wake of the nearby explosions. She was desperate to have them hear her, but the flow towards the doors seemed unstoppable.

"I'm sorry!" she screamed at them. "I'm sorry that we're not perfect! I'm sorry that we killed your kinsmen yesterday. It was a mistake and I swear to you all that I will do everything I can to ensure nothing like that ever happens again. But I can't stop a war without your cooperation! Maybe we deserve to be thrown out of office because of what we've done, but how many people do you think have to die before that will happen if you keep thinking like this?"

She wanted an answer. She wanted someone down on the floor to turn around and scream their opinions back at her. But no one answered. It was like she was talking to air. "Listen to me," she begged, her voice weakening. No one was even looking her way now, as sirens began wailing closer and the panic grew.

"Are you finished?" Une asked tersely from her side. "You really ought to move somewhere safer."

Feeling wrung out, like an old rag doll, Relena nodded and allowed herself to finally be led away.


End file.
